Subterranean well production saltwater evaporation station with saltwater recycle

ABSTRACT

A process comprising spraying production saltwater comprising water and dissolved salt through an evaporator to evaporate a portion of the water, collecting unevaporated saltwater which is an unevaporated portion of the saltwater that remains after being sprayed through the evaporator, and adjusting a salinity of at least a portion of the unevaporated saltwater to yield an adjusted brine product.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

The present application is a continuation-in-part of U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 14/660,469, filed Mar. 17, 2015 by Dennis Hudgensand entitled “Subterranean Well Production Saltwater Evaporation Stationwith Iodine Separator,” which is a continuation-in-part of U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 14/188,283, filed Feb. 24, 2014 by Dennis Hudgensand entitled “Subterranean Well Production Saltwater EvaporationStation,” now U.S. Pat. No. 9,005,310, which is a continuation-in-partof U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/532,500, filed Jun. 25, 2012 byDennis Hudgens and entitled “Subterranean Well Production SaltwaterEvaporation Station,” now U.S. Pat. No. 8,703,065, which is acontinuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/476,438,filed Jun. 2, 2009 by Dennis Hudgens and entitled “Subterranean WellProduction Saltwater Evaporation Station,” now U.S. Pat. No. 8,226,735,all of which are incorporated herein by reference as if reproduced intheir entireties.

STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH OR DEVELOPMENT

Not applicable.

REFERENCE TO A MICROFICHE APPENDIX

Not applicable.

BACKGROUND

Water occurs naturally in subterranean formations, and as such may beproduced in conjunction with hydrocarbons from oil and gas wells. Wateralso may be used to stimulate hydrocarbon production in oil and gaswells. When the water is produced from oil or gas wells, it typicallycomprises sufficient amounts of dissolved salts to make it unsuitablefor agriculture and other purposes. The produced saltwater may alsocomprise several harmful compounds, such as benzene, toluene,ethylbenzene, xylene, transition metals, or combinations thereof. Assuch, oil and gas well operators generally have to pay to dispose of anyproduced saltwater.

SUMMARY

Disclosed herein is a process comprising spraying production saltwatercomprising water and dissolved salt through an evaporator to evaporate aportion of the water, collecting unevaporated saltwater which is anunevaporated portion of the saltwater that remains after being sprayedthrough the evaporator, and adjusting a salinity of at least a portionof the unevaporated saltwater to yield an adjusted brine product.

Also disclosed herein is a process comprising removing hydrocarbons,solids, or both from production saltwater to yield clarified saltwatercomprising water and dissolved salt, spraying a portion of the clarifiedsaltwater through an evaporator to evaporate a portion of the water,collecting unevaporated saltwater which is an unevaporated portion ofthe saltwater that remains after being sprayed through the evaporator,and adding a portion of the clarified saltwater to a portion of theunevaporated saltwater to adjust a salinity of the unevaporatedsaltwater and yield an adjusted brine product.

Further disclosed herein is a process comprising spraying productionsaltwater comprising water and dissolved salt through an evaporator toevaporate a portion of the water and yield evaporated water, condensinga portion of the evaporated water to yield condensed water, collectingunevaporated saltwater which is an unevaporated portion of the saltwaterthat remains after being sprayed through the evaporator, and adding aportion of the condensed water to a portion of the unevaporatedsaltwater to adjust a salinity of the unevaporated saltwater and yieldan adjusted brine product.

Further disclosed herein is a process comprising spraying productionsaltwater comprising water and dissolved salt through an evaporator toevaporate a portion of the water, collecting unevaporated saltwaterwhich is an unevaporated portion of the saltwater that remains afterbeing sprayed through the evaporator, receiving a density specificationfor an adjusted brine product suitable for use in a wellbore servicingoperation, and adjusting a density of at least a portion of theunevaporated saltwater to yield the adjusted brine product meeting thedensity specification.

Further disclosed herein is a system comprising (a) an evaporator,wherein the evaporator receives a saltwater feed stream and emits aspray of saltwater into the air where a portion of the saltwater isevaporated and a portion of the saltwater remains unevaporated and fallsfrom the air onto a surface adjacent the evaporator, (b) a collector forcollecting the unevaporated saltwater that falls onto the surface, (c)an unevaporated saltwater storage vessel, wherein the unevaporatedsaltwater storage vessel is in fluid communication with the collectorand receives unevaporated saltwater collected by the collector, (d) amix vessel, wherein the mix vessel is in fluid communication with andreceives (1) unevaporated saltwater from the storage vessel wherein theunevaporated saltwater has a baseline salinity, and (2) at least oneadditional feed stream selected from (i) a crystalline salt feed streamfrom a crystalline salt source, (ii) a salt solution feed stream from asalt solution source, or (iii) a fresh water feed stream from a freshwater source, and wherein an adjusted brine product is formed in themixer upon receipt of unevaporated saltwater and at least one of theadditional feed streams (i)-(iii), wherein the adjusted brine producthas a salinity that is different from the baseline salinity, and (e) anadjusted brine product storage vessel in fluid communication with themix vessel and receiving the adjusted brine product from the mix vessel.

These and other features will be more clearly understood from thefollowing detailed description taken in conjunction with theaccompanying drawings and claims.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

For a more complete understanding of this disclosure, reference is nowmade to the following brief description, taken in connection with theaccompanying drawings and detailed description, wherein like referencenumerals represent like parts.

FIG. 1 is a schematic view of an embodiment of a subterranean wellproduction field.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart of an embodiment of a production saltwaterseparation process.

FIG. 3 is a plan view of an embodiment of a salt production station.

FIG. 4 is a plan view of embodiments of a reception area, a storagearea, and a separation area.

FIG. 5 is a section view of an embodiment of the separation area takenacross line 5-5 in FIG. 4.

FIG. 6 is a section view of an embodiment of the separation area takenacross line 6-6 in FIG. 4.

FIG. 7 is a section view of an embodiment of the separation area takenacross line 7-7 in FIG. 4.

FIG. 8 is a section view of an embodiment of the separation area takenacross line 8-8 in FIG. 4.

FIG. 9 is a section view of an embodiment of the separation area takenacross line 9-9 in FIG. 4.

FIG. 10 is a plan view of embodiments of an evaporation area and thestorage area.

FIG. 11 is a section view of an embodiment of the evaporation area takenacross line 11-11 in FIG. 10.

FIG. 12 is a section view of an embodiment of the evaporation area takenacross line 12-12 in FIG. 10.

FIG. 13 is a plan view of another embodiment of the salt productionstation.

FIG. 14 is a schematic view of the other embodiment of the saltproduction station.

FIG. 15 is a perspective view of an embodiment of the evaporation areaof FIGS. 13 and 14.

FIG. 16 is a schematic view of the other embodiment of the saltproduction station.

FIG. 17 is a front elevation view of an embodiment of the condenserpanels and condenser beams of FIG. 15.

FIG. 18 is a front elevation view of an embodiment of a water condenserpanel.

FIG. 19 is a side elevation view of an embodiment of the water condenserpanel.

FIG. 20 is a schematic view of an embodiment of a water collectionsystem of the evaporation area of FIG. 15.

FIG. 21 is a plan view of another embodiment of the salt productionstation.

FIG. 22 is a plan view of another embodiment of the salt productionstation.

FIG. 23 is a schematic view of an embodiment of a weather-monitoringcontroller.

FIG. 24 is a schematic view of an embodiment of a mixer vessel andrelated mixing system components.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

It should be understood at the outset that although an illustrativeimplementation of one or more embodiments are provided below, thedisclosed systems and/or methods may be implemented using any number oftechniques, whether currently known or in existence. The disclosureshould in no way be limited to the illustrative implementations,drawings, and techniques illustrated below, including the exemplarydesigns and implementations illustrated and described herein, but may bemodified within the scope of the appended claims along with their fullscope of equivalents.

Disclosed herein is a method and apparatus for recovering salt fromsaltwater produced from subterranean wells, such as oil and gas wells.The production saltwater may be received in a reception area andsubsequently stored in a storage area. The production saltwater mayundergo an initial separation in the storage area to remove some of thehydrocarbons from the saltwater. The saltwater may then be passed to aseparation area comprising one or more settling pits or tanks, an iodineseparation unit, and/or a water clarifying unit that allow solids tosettle out of the saltwater and remove any residual hydrocarbons fromthe saltwater. The saltwater may then be sent to an evaporation areawhere the saltwater is sprayed into the air. While in the air,substantially all of the water in the saltwater may evaporate and thesalt may fall into a collection pit. The salt may be periodically movedfrom the collection pit to a storage area, where the salt may be keptuntil it is loaded into a storage container or vehicle.

FIG. 1 depicts an embodiment of a subterranean well field 100. Thesubterranean well field 100 may comprise a plurality of wells 102coupled to a salt production station 110 via a plurality of pipelines104. The wells 102 may be hydrocarbon, e.g. oil and/or natural gas,wells that produce production saltwater as a byproduct. For example,each well 102 may produce at least about 1 barrel per day, from about 5to about 50 barrels per day, or about 25 barrels per day of productionsaltwater. The production saltwater may comprise water and one or moresalts, perhaps in combination with other compounds. The saltwaterpresent in the effluent from the wells 102 may be the result ofsubterranean water deposits that are in fluid communication with thesubterranean hydrocarbon deposits. Alternatively, the saltwater presentin the effluent from the wells 102 may be the result of water and/orsteam injection into the subterranean formation, for example to increasehydrocarbon production from the well 102. The wells 102 may comprise aseparation system that separates the well effluent into ahydrocarbon-rich stream and a production saltwater-rich stream, whichmay be sent to the salt production station 110. In an embodiment, afterthe hydrocarbons are separated from the production saltwater, thesaltwater may be transported to the salt production station 110 withoutfurther processing. In other embodiments, the wells 102 may be waterwells or any other apparatus that produces saltwater.

The wells 102 may transport the production saltwater to the saltproduction station 110 via the pipelines 104. The pipelines 104 aresimilar to those well known in the art and may comprise metal orcomposite piping having a diameter appropriate for the productionsaltwater flow. The length of the pipeline 104 may vary depending on thedistance between the wells 102 and the salt production station 110. Forexample, the pipelines 104 may be as short as a few yards or as long asseveral hundred miles. Typically, the pipelines 104 may have a lengthless than about 100 miles.

The salt production station 110 may be any device or apparatusconfigured to produce salt from production saltwater. For example, thesalt production station 110 may implement a production saltwaterseparation process, such as the production saltwater separation process200 illustrated in FIG. 2. In the production saltwater separationprocess 200, a batch or continuous stream of production saltwater may bereceived in a reception area 120. A hydrocarbon separation/storage area130 may store the production saltwater, and at least some of thehydrocarbons may be separated from the saltwater in a hydrocarbonseparation/storage area 130. The hydrocarbon separation/storage area 130may have storage facilities for the raw production saltwater (whichgenerally will include hydrocarbons and/or solids), the cleanedsaltwater (which may include some residual hydrocarbons and/or solids),and/or hydrocarbons that have been separated from at least some of thesaltwater (in either the hydrocarbon separation/storage area 130 or thesolids separation area 140). In some embodiments, at least some of thesaltwater may be removed from the production saltwater separationprocess 200 and sold as fracturing (frac) water (e.g. water used insubterranean fracturing operations). The saltwater, which may includesolids and/or residual hydrocarbons, may then pass to a solidsseparation area 140, in which substantially all of the remaininghydrocarbons and/or solids may be separated from the saltwater in asolids separation area 140. Any hydrocarbons separated in the solidsseparation area 140 may be returned to the hydrocarbonseparation/storage area 130. The production saltwater separation process200 may also separate the water from the salt in an evaporation area 160and store the salt in a salt storage area 180. In an embodiment, thehydrocarbons, solids, and salt may be suitably disposed or preferablysold, while the water may be evaporated into the atmosphere.

The production saltwater may comprise water and at least one salt. Asused herein, a salt may be any compound that comprises, consistsessentially of, or consists of an ionic bond, such as the bond formedbetween an anion and a cation. The salts may include alkaline metals,alkaline earth metals, halides, transition metals, poor metals,non-metals, oxides, hydroxides, or combinations thereof. The salts withgreater solubility in water may be included in the salt produced by thesalt production station 110, while the salts with less solubility inwater may be removed from the water in the solids separation area 140along with any non-salt solids.

The saltwater may comprise a substantial amount of salts. For example,the saltwater may comprise at least about 5 grams per liter (g/L), fromabout 10 to about 100 g/L, or about 34 g/L dissolved salts. In anembodiment, the saltwater may comprise an alkaline metal, such as atleast about 5,000 parts per million (ppm), from about 10,000 ppm toabout 20,000 ppm, or about 15,000 ppm dissolved sodium. As such, thesaltwater may have a sodium adsorption ratio (SAR) of at least about 50,from about 100 to about 400, or about 240. Additionally oralternatively, the saltwater may comprise an alkaline earth metal, suchas at least about 25 ppm, from about 50 ppm to about 150 ppm, or about74 ppm magnesium, at least about 50 ppm, from about 100 to about 300ppm, or about 180 ppm calcium, and/or at least about 5 milligrams perliter (mg/L), from about 10 to about 100 mg/L, and/or about 52 mg/Lbarium. Additionally or alternatively, the saltwater may comprise atleast 5 g/L, from about 10 g/L to about 100 g/L, or about 23 g/L ofchloride. Additionally or alternatively, the saltwater may comprise atransition metal, such as at least about 0.1 micrograms per liter(μg/L), from about 0.5 to about 10 μg/L, or about 2 μg/L cadmium and/orat least about 0.1 μg/L, from about 0.5 to about 10 μg/L, or about 2μg/L chromium. The saltwater may also comprise less than about 20 μg/L,less than about 10 μg/L, or less than about 5 μg/L silver and/or lessthan about 10 μg/L, less than about 5 μg/L, or less than about 0.8 μg/Lmercury. Additionally or alternatively, the saltwater may comprise apoor metal, such as at least about 0.5 μg/L, from about 1 to about 20μg/L, or about 8 μg/L lead. Additionally or alternatively, the saltwatermay comprise a non-metal, such as at least about 10 ppm, from about 25to about 100 ppm, or about 54 ppm sulfate, less than about 10 μg/L, lessthan about 5 μg/L, or less than about 1 μg/L arsenic, and/or less thanabout 100 μg/L, less than about 50 μg/L, or less than about 20 μg/Lselenium.

In some embodiments, the production saltwater may include iodine, whichmay be present as an ionic salt with another element or in any otherform. The amount of iodine in the production saltwater may vary bylocation, and in various embodiments may exist in the productionsaltwater in a concentration of at least about 50 parts per million(ppm), about 100 ppm-about 4,000 ppm, about 200 ppm-about 1,000 ppm, orabout 300 ppm-about 700 ppm.

The production saltwater may also comprise various organic compounds.For example, the saltwater may comprise less than about 20 mg/L, lessthan about 10 mg/L, or less than about 5 mg/L of C₆-C₁₂ hydrocarbons,and less than about 20 mg/L, less than about 10 mg/L, or less than about5 mg/L C₁₂₊ hydrocarbons. The saltwater may also comprise benzene,toluene, ethylbenzene, xylene, or combinations thereof. For example, thesaltwater may comprise at least about 0.02 mg/L, from about 0.04 toabout 0.2 mg/L, or about 0.08 mg/L benzene and related compounds, atleast about 0.02 mg/L, from about 0.04 to about 0.2 mg/L, or about 0.06mg/L toluene and related compounds. In addition, at least about 0.001mg/L, from about 0.005 to about 0.1 mg/L, or about 0.01 mg/L xylene andrelated compounds, and at least about 0.001 mg/L, from about 0.002 toabout 0.05 mg/L, or less than about 0.005 mg/L ethylbenzene and relatedcompounds. In a specific embodiment, the saltwater may comprise at leastabout 0.01 μg/L, from about 0.1 μg/L to about 5 μg/L, or about 0.6 μg/Lof naphthalene, at least about 0.01 μg/L, from about 0.1 μg/L to about 5μg/L, or about 0.3 μg/L 1-methylnaphthalene, at least about 0.01 μg/L,from about 0.1 μg/L to about 5 μg/L, or about 0.4 μg/L2-methylnaphthalene, at least about 0.01 μg/L, from about 0.1 μg/L toabout 1 μg/L, or about 0.2 μg/L penanthrene, at least about 0.01 μg/L,from about 0.1 μg/L to about 1 μg/L, or about 0.2 μg/L pyrene, and lessthan about 5 μg/L, less than about 1 μg/L, or less than about 0.2 μg/Leach of acenaphthylene, acenaphthene, dibenzofuran, fluorene,anthracene, fluoranthene, benzo(a)anthracene, chrysene,benzo(b)fluoranthene, benzo(k)fluoranthene, benzo(a)pyrene,indeno(1,2,3-cd)pyrene, dibenzo(a,h)anthracene, benzo(g,h,i)perylene, orcombinations thereof.

The hydrocarbons, solids, and salt produced by the production saltwaterseparation process 200 may each comprise substantially pure products.For example, the hydrocarbons produced by the production saltwaterseparation process 200 may comprise at least 80 weight percent, at least95 weight percent, or at least 99 weight percent organic compounds, suchas hydrocarbons. Similarly, the solids produced by the productionsaltwater separation process 200 may comprise at least 80 weightpercent, at least 95 weight percent, or at least 99 weight percentnon-dissolvable solids, such as metals. Finally, the salt produced bythe production saltwater separation process 200 may comprise at least 80weight percent, at least 95 weight percent, or at least 99 weightpercent salts, such as alkali metals, alkaline earth metals, andhalides.

The hydrocarbons, solids, and salt produced by the production saltwaterseparation process 200 may also each comprise substantial amounts oftheir respective components from the production saltwater received inthe reception area 120. For example, the hydrocarbons produced by theproduction saltwater separation process 200 may comprise at least 80weight percent, at least 95 weight percent, or at least 99 weightpercent of the organic compounds present in the production saltwater.Similarly, the solids produced by the production saltwater separationprocess 200 may comprise at least 80 weight percent, at least 95 weightpercent, or at least 99 weight percent of the solids present in theproduction saltwater. Finally, the salt produced by the productionsaltwater separation process 200 may comprise at least 80 weightpercent, at least 95 weight percent, or at least 99 weight percent ofthe salts present in the production saltwater.

FIG. 3 depicts an embodiment of the salt production station 110. Asshown in FIG. 3, the salt production station 110 comprises the receptionarea 120, the hydrocarbon separation/storage area 130, the solidsseparation area 140, the evaporation area 160, and the salt storage area180. The reception area 120 may receive the production saltwater fromthe pipeline 104 or other sources, and may pass the production saltwaterto the hydrocarbon separation/storage area 130 for storage. Thehydrocarbon separation/storage area 130 may store the productionsaltwater, may separate at least some of the hydrocarbons from thesaltwater, and may subsequently pass the production saltwater to thesolids separation area 140 where any remaining hydrocarbons and solidsare removed from the saltwater. The hydrocarbons may be returned to thehydrocarbon separation/storage area 130, while the solids may accumulatein and may be periodically removed from the solids separation area 140.The saltwater may then be transferred to the evaporation area 160 wherethe water may be separated from the salt, for example by evaporation.The salt may then be moved to the salt storage area 180 where it isstored for later transportation and/or sale. The salt production station110 may be surrounded as appropriate by security fence 106, berms 108,and wind-deflecting fence 109 to provide site security, privacy, fluidcontainment in case of leaks, and/or wind protection. In addition, thesalt production station 110 may comprise piping, valves, pumps, filters,controls, lighting, and safety equipment as is necessary to carry outthe processes described herein.

FIG. 4 depicts a more detailed embodiment of the reception area 120. Thereception area 120 may be configured to intake production saltwater fromthe pipeline 104 or at least one intake connection 121, which may beconfigured to connect to a vehicle such as a truck, train, ship, orcombinations thereof. While the pipeline 104 and the intake connection121 may pipe the production saltwater directly to the hydrocarbonseparation/storage area 130, more typically the production saltwater maypass through metering equipment configured to measure the volume andamount of production saltwater received by the reception area 120. Inaddition, the reception area 120 may comprise composition evaluationequipment that can evaluate the composition of the production saltwater,and/or authorization equipment that can determine whether the vehicle isauthorized to transfer the production saltwater to the salt productionstation 110. Furthermore, the reception area 120 may be configured totransfer hydrocarbons, saltwater, solids, or combinations thereof fromthe salt production station 110. For example, the reception area 120 maycomprise a hydrocarbon effluent connection 124 that may be configured totransfer the hydrocarbons from the hydrocarbon separation/storage area130 to one of the aforementioned vehicles. Alternatively oradditionally, the reception area 120 may comprise a vacuum dischargeconnection 125 that may be configured to transfer the solids and/orsaltwater from the solids separation area 140 and/or the productionsaltwater storage tanks 131 to one of the aforementioned vehicles.Moreover, the reception area 120 may comprise accounting equipmentconfigured to make or receive payment associated with the transfer ofproduction saltwater, hydrocarbons, and/or solids into or out of thesalt production station 110. The reception area 120 may also beconfigured with drip pot connections, strainers, electronic butterflyvalves, check valves, totalizers, and card readers as appropriate. Theremay be several components of the reception area 120 that may need to beaccessible by persons who do not necessarily need to access theremainder of the salt production station 110. As such, some componentsof the reception area 120, e.g. connections and authorization equipment,may be on the outside of the security fence 106, while other componentsof the reception area 120, e.g. sampling equipment, metering equipment,pumps, valves, etc., may be on the inside of the security fence 106.

FIG. 4 also depicts a more detailed embodiment of the hydrocarbonseparation/storage area 130. The hydrocarbon separation/storage area 130may comprise a plurality of production saltwater storage tanks 131 thatmay receive production saltwater from the reception area 120 and storethe production saltwater until it is transferred to the solidsseparation area 140. The production saltwater storage tanks 131 may beconfigured such that either or both production saltwater storage tanks131 may be used to store the production saltwater. Such a configurationallows one of the production saltwater tanks 131 to be down formaintenance while the other is operating. The production saltwaterstorage tanks 131 also may allow the salt production station 110 tooperate at a discontinuous or substantially continuous rate, e.g.independent of the intake rate of production saltwater at the receptionarea 120. In other words, the hydrocarbon separation/storage area 130may allow the salt production station 110 to operate only wheneconomically favorable conditions exist.

When the production saltwater leaves the production saltwater storagetanks 131, it may pass through a gun barrel separator 132. The gunbarrel separator 132 may allow the production saltwater to remainrelatively still, thereby allowing at least some of the hydrocarbons toform an organic phase that is predominately hydrocarbons and othercompounds having an affinity for the organic phase on top of the aqueousphase that is predominantly water and other compounds having an affinityfor the aqueous phase. The gun barrel separator 132 may also comprisemonitoring equipment that maintains the organic-aqueous phase boundaryat a substantially constant level or within a predetermined range, and asiphon or a weir skimmer or pipe to remove the organic phase. Theorganic phase may be transferred to a hydrocarbon storage tank 133,while the aqueous phase saltwater may be removed from a point below theorganic-aqueous phase boundary and away from the inlet, and may betransferred to the solids separation area 140 or stored/sold as fracwater. The hydrocarbon storage tank 133 may also receive hydrocarbonsfrom the solids separation area 140 and may store the hydrocarbons untilthey are ready to be transferred to a vehicle via the hydrocarboneffluent connection 124. The hydrocarbon effluent connection 124 may beconfigured with drip pot connections, strainers, electronic butterflyvalves, ball valves, check valves, totalizers, and card readers asappropriate.

The production saltwater storage tanks 131, gun barrel separator 132,and hydrocarbon storage tank 133 may be constructed of materials andsized appropriately for the composition and amount of productionsaltwater flowing through the salt production station 110. For example,the production saltwater storage tanks 131, gun barrel separator 132,and hydrocarbon storage tank 133 may be made of fiberglass, steel, orany other suitable material and may have a volume of at least about 100barrels, from about 200 barrels to about 1,000 barrels, or about 500barrels. In addition, the production saltwater storage tanks 131, gunbarrel separator 132, and hydrocarbon storage tank 133 may be surroundedby a berm 135 and a trough 136 that are lined with a liner, such as apolymer liner about 0.06 inches thick, and downwardly graded towards thesolids separation area 140. As such, any rupture or leakage from theproduction saltwater storage tanks 131, gun barrel separator 132, and/orhydrocarbon storage tank 133 may be routed into the solids separationarea 140.

FIGS. 4-9 depict a more detailed embodiment of the solids separationarea 140. The solids separation area 140 may comprise a first settlingpit 141, a second settling pit 143, and a third settling pit 145(collectively, the settling pits). The saltwater generally flows fromthe first settling pit 141 to the second settling pit 143 to the thirdsettling pit 145, and as it does so solids and hydrocarbons are removedfrom the saltwater. Specifically, the first settling pit 141 may receivethe saltwater from the gun barrel separator 132 via a discharge pipe134. The trough 136 may also be configured to discharge into the firstsettling pit 141. Solids settle to the bottom of the first settling pit141, and if desired, various compounds can be added to first settlingpit 141 to promote the settling and/or precipitation of the solids, e.g.by reacting with the solids, changing the temperature of the saltwater,changing the pH of the saltwater, or combinations thereof. The saltwaterand any hydrocarbons subsequently pass through a first weir skimmer 142positioned between the first settling pit 141 and the second settlingpit 143. The first weir skimmer 142 skims any hydrocarbons off thesaltwater, while the saltwater passes through to the second settling pit143. Piping connected to the first weir skimmer 142 transports anycollected hydrocarbons back to the hydrocarbon storage tank 133.Similarly, solids settle to the bottom of the second settling pit 143,and the saltwater and any remaining hydrocarbons pass through a secondweir skimmer 144 positioned between the second settling pit 143 and thethird settling pit 145. The second weir skimmer 144 skims anyhydrocarbons off the saltwater, while the saltwater passes through tothe third settling pit 145. Piping connected to the second weir skimmer144 transports the hydrocarbons back to the hydrocarbon storage tank133. In a specific embodiment, the first weir skimmer 142 and the secondweir skimmer 144 are both stainless steel DRAGONFLY MICRO OIL SKIMMERSLike the first settling pit 141 and the second settling pit 143, solidssettle out of the saltwater in the third settling pit 145, and thesaltwater, which is substantially free of solids and hydrocarbons, isremoved from the third settling pit 145 via a discharge pipe 146. Thedischarge pipe 146 may be a flexible pipe configured to remove saltwaterfrom the top of the third settling pit 145, e.g. such that it does notsuck up substantially any solids.

The settling pits may be sized as appropriate for the flow of productionsaltwater through the salt production station 110. For example, each ofthe settling pits may have a volume of at least about 5,000 barrels,from about 10,000 barrels to about 100,000 barrels, or about 25,000barrels. In addition, one or more of the settling pits may be sloped topromote migration of the solids towards a certain direction, and theslope of each settling pit may be the same or different. For example,the settling pits may have a slope of from about 0.1 percent to about 60percent, from about 0.5 percent to about 10 percent, or about 1 percent.The slope direction may be to one side of the settling pits, e.g. up,down, left, or right in FIG. 4, may be towards the center of thesettling pit, may be towards the perimeter of the settling pit, orcombinations thereof. In a specific embodiment, the settling pits have a1 percent slope in the downward direction in FIG. 4, and have a 1percent slope from the left and right sides in FIG. 4 towards the centerof the settling pits. In an embodiment, the settling pits may comprise aprimary liner such as a polymer liner having a thickness of at leastabout 0.01 inches, from about 0.02 inches to about 0.1 inches, or about0.06 inches. In addition, the settling pits may comprise a leakagedetection system. For example, a secondary liner, such as a polymerliner having a thickness of at least about 0.005 inches, from about 0.01inches to about 0.1 inches, or about 0.02 inches, may be laid under theprimary liner, and a drainage material, e.g. gravel or syntheticmaterial, may be positioned therebetween. In addition, a leakagedetection pipe may extend from the surface into the drainage material sothat an operator may visually inspect the drainage material to determinewhether the primary liner is leaking. Alternatively, an automaticleakage detection system may be positioned within the leakage detectionpipe. It will be appreciated that above ground tanks or any otherstorage medium could be used instead of the pits described herein. Thetanks or other storage medium can be used for merely storage of thesaltwater, as settling tanks (similar to the settling pits describedabove), or combinations thereof. Also, the settling pits may also becovered with netting to prevent operators or wildlife from falling intothe settling pits.

FIGS. 10-12 depict a more detailed embodiment of the evaporation area160. The evaporation area 160 may comprise a plurality of substantiallyidentical evaporation stations. The evaporation stations may beconfigured such that either or both evaporation station may be used toevaporate the saltwater. Such a configuration allows one of theevaporation stations to be down for maintenance while the other isoperating. Each evaporation station may comprise an evaporator 164 and acollection pit 162. The evaporator 164 may be any device configured toseparate the water from the salt in the saltwater. For example, theevaporator 164 may be a TURBO-MIST vaporator manufactured by SLIMLINEmanufacturing. The evaporator 164 may comprise an upward-directed nozzlethat is configured to spray the saltwater received from the solidsseparation area 140 into the air. The nozzle may be configured toproduce at least one fine stream that allows at least some of the waterto evaporate while in the air, which leaves the salt to fall into thecollection pit 162. For example, the evaporator 164 may be configured tospray at least about 10 barrels per hour, from about 20 barrels per hourto about 500 barrels per hour, or about 50 barrels per hour ofsaltwater. As such, the salt production station 110 may produce at least1,000 pounds per day, from about 2 tons per day to about 50 tons perday, or about 10 tons per day of salt. In an embodiment, the horizontaland/or vertical orientation of the nozzle may be adjustable and perhapscontrolled automatically to account for wind, temperature, relativehumidity, and so forth. The collection pit 162 may be oriented such thatthe prevailing winds blow across or behind the evaporator 164 effluent.The collection pit 162 may be sized to collect substantially all of thesalt produced by the evaporation. For example, the collection pit 162may be from about 50 feet to about 200 feet, from about 70 feet to about125 feet, about 90 feet wide, from about 50 feet to about 600 feet, fromabout 150 feet to about 500 feet, about 350 feet long, and from about 1foot to about 20 feet, from about 2 feet to about 10 feet, about 5 feetdeep. The collection pit 162 may also be configured with a drain 163 aswell as pumps and piping appropriate to recover any unevaporated waterand return such to the evaporators 164, solids separation area 140,and/or hydrocarbon separation/storage area 130.

In addition, one or more of the collection pits 162 may be sloped topromote migration of the salt and/or any residual water towards acertain direction, and the slope of each collection pit 162 may be thesame or different. For example, the collection pit 162 may have a slopeof from about 0.1 percent to about 60 percent, from about 0.5 percent toabout 10 percent, or about 1 percent. The slope direction may be to oneside of the collection pit 162, e.g. up, down, left, or right in FIG.10, may be towards the center of the collection pit 162, may be towardsthe perimeter of the collection pit 162, or combinations thereof. In aspecific embodiment, the collection pit 162 may have a 1 percent slopefrom right to left in FIG. 10, e.g. towards to the evaporator 164, andmay have a 1 percent slope from the top and bottom sides in FIG. 10,e.g. towards the center of the collection pit 162. Furthermore, thecollection pit 162 may comprise a liner similar to the primary orsecondary liner described above. Finally, the evaporation area 160 maybe surrounded by the berm 108 and/or wind-deflecting fence 109, e.g. an8-foot high berm and/or a 15-foot high wind-deflecting fence, to preventthe wind from blowing the water stream and/or salt away from thecollection pit 162. The berm 108 and/or wind-deflection fence 109 may beinstalled between individual evaporations stations, if desired.

Each evaporation station may comprise a salt conveyor that is configuredto move the salt from the collection pit 162 to the salt storage area180. For example, the evaporation station may comprise a blade 168, amotor 172, and a cable 170. The blade 168 may be a box blade or anyother apparatus configured to scrape the salt across the collection pit162. If desired, the blade 168 may have a horizontal and/or verticalconcavity to promote collection and movement of the salt. The blade 168may be connected to the motor 172 by the cable 170, which may extendfrom the motor 172 through a pulley 184 in the salt storage area 180 andto the blade 168 from one side of the motor 172, and directly to theblade 168 on the other side of the motor 172. As such, when the motor172 is actuated in a forward direction, the blade 168 may be pulledacross the collection pit 162 in a first direction, e.g. towards thepulley 184, and may move the salt from the collection pit 162 to thesalt storage area 180. Similarly, when the motor 172 is actuated in areverse direction, the blade 168 may be pulled across the collection pit162 in a second direction, e.g. towards the motor 172, and may return toits initial location proximate to the evaporators 164. If desired, theblade 168 may also be fitted with a vertical actuation mechanism thatraises and lowers the blade 168. The blade 168 may be actuated as neededto prevent excessive build-up of salt in the collection pit 162. Inaddition, the blade 168 may be actuated when the evaporators 164 are notin operation, e.g. to limit the amount of salt build-up behind the blade168. Additionally or alternatively, the evaporation station may usebackhoes, bulldozers, front-end loaders, or other mobile equipment tomove the salt from the collection pit 162 to the salt storage area 180.

FIGS. 10 and 12 also depict a more detailed embodiment of the saltstorage area 180. The salt storage area 180 may comprise a salt storagepad 182 and the pulley 184. The salt storage pad 182 may be used as astorage area and/or additional drying area for the salt until the saltcan be loaded into a storage container or vehicle. If desired, a roof ortarp may be used to cover the salt, e.g. to prevent rain from wetting orwind from blowing away the salt. Additionally or alternatively, the saltstorage pad 182 may be surrounded by the aforementioned berm 108 and/orwind-deflecting fence 109. The salt may meet or exceed various federaland/or state regulations for agricultural and livestock use, and as suchthe salt may be suitable for agricultural use and/or animal consumption.

The efficiency with which the salt production station 110 produces thesalt may be dependent on the environmental conditions at the saltproduction station 110. In an embodiment, the salt production station110 may be operated when the ambient temperature is at least about 50°F., at least about 70° F., or at least about 90° F. In addition, thesalt production station 110 may be operated when the relative humidityis no more than about 60 percent, no more than about 30 percent, or nomore than about 10 percent. Such conditions, along with the wind, maycause at least about 40 weight percent, at least about 60 weightpercent, or at least about 90 weight percent of the water in thesaltwater to evaporate.

FIG. 13 depicts another embodiment of the production saltwaterseparation process 200. The production saltwater separation process 200functions substantially similar to salt production station 110, but theproduction saltwater separation process 200 may be arranged in adifferent configuration. As with the salt production station 110, theproduction saltwater separation process 200 may comprise a receptionarea 220, a production saltwater storage area 230, a separation area240, an evaporation area 260, and a salt storage area 280 arranged asshown in FIG. 13. Production saltwater may be received from trucks orvia pipeline at the reception area 220 and stored in the productionsaltwater storage area 230 for storage and removal of the hydrocarbons.The production saltwater may then flow into the separation area 240where metals and components other than salt and water are removed. Theremaining saltwater may then flow into the evaporation area 260 wherethe water is separated from the salt via evaporation. The salt isrecovered from the ground in the evaporation area 260, and then storedin the salt storage area 280. Unlike the salt production station 110,production saltwater separation process 200 is configured to recover theevaporated water using condensers, thus yielding fresh water. Theproduction saltwater separation process 200 may be surrounded asappropriate by security fence 206, berms 208, and wind-deflecting fence209 to provide site security, privacy, fluid containment in case ofleaks, and/or wind protection. In a specific embodiment, the securityfence 206 may be a six feet tall chain link fence topped with threestrands of barbed wire. In addition, the production saltwater separationprocess 200 may comprise piping, valves, pumps, filters, controls,lighting, and safety equipment as is necessary to carry out theprocesses described herein. In a specific embodiment, the productionsaltwater separation process 200 may comprise pipes with diameters ofabout three inches, four inches, eight inches, or combinations thereof.

FIG. 14 depicts a more detailed embodiment of the reception area 220.The reception area 220 may be configured to intake production saltwaterfrom pipeline or trucks via intake connections 221, four of which areshown in FIG. 14. The intake connections 221 are substantially similarto the intake connections 121. The reception area 220 may be configuredsuch that trucks, ships, or other vehicles enter and exit the receptionarea 220 going a single direction, e.g. the vehicles do not have tobackup or otherwise reverse course when entering and leaving thereception area 220. The reception area 220 also may be configured suchthat a plurality of trucks, ships, or other vehicles can be positionedside-by-side while unloading the production saltwater.

FIG. 14 also depicts a more detailed embodiment of the productionsaltwater storage area 230. The production saltwater storage area 230may comprise production saltwater storage tanks 231, a gun barrelseparator 232, and a hydrocarbon storage tank 233 configured as shown inFIG. 14. The production saltwater storage tanks 231, gun barrelseparator 232, and hydrocarbon storage tank 233 may be substantiallysimilar as the saltwater storage tanks 131, gun barrel separator 132,and hydrocarbon storage tank 133 described above, except that theproduction saltwater may flow directly from the reception area 220 tothe gun barrel separator 232. Hydrocarbons may be separated from thesaltwater and may flow into the hydrocarbon storage tank 233, which isconveniently located next to a truck access station. The saltwater mayflow from the gun barrel separator 232 to one or both of the saltwaterstorage tanks 231 for temporary storage or directly to the separationarea 240. This configuration may ensure that a substantial amount ofsaltwater mixture is always available for use in the rest of theproduction saltwater separation process 200.

FIG. 14 also depicts a more detailed embodiment of the separation area240. The production saltwater separation process 200 may comprise afirst settling pit 241, a second settling pit 243, and a third settlingpit 245, which may be substantially similar as the first settling pit141, the second settling pit 143, and the third settling pit 145,respectively, but arranged as shown in FIG. 14. Specifically, thesaltwater may flow from the production saltwater storage area 230 to thefirst settling pit 241 and the second settling pit 243 for separation ofmetals from the saltwater. The saltwater may then flow to the thirdsettling pit 245 for additional metal separation prior to flowing intothe evaporation area 260. This configuration may allow that thesaltwater mixture to remain on the settling pits 241 and 243 for aprolonged period for greater separation. In a specific embodiment, thesettling pits 241, 243, and 245 may each be about 160 feet long, about100 feet wide, about seventeen inches deep at the deepest point andabout fifteen inches deep at the most shallow point. Each pit may beseparated by concrete pipe and a slide gate. Each pit may also beenclosed by a fence to prevent operators and wildlife from falling in.The fence perimeter may be about 166 feet by about 106 feet. Thesettling pits 241, 243, and 245 may also comprise ultrasonic sensors andhi/lo level controls which may be electrically connected to the weathermonitoring controller 500 as discussed below. The berm 208 around thesettling pits may be about fifty feet wide, about 96 feet long, andabout 11.5 inches tall. In an alternate embodiment, settling pits 241,243, and 245 may be replaced with aboveground and/or below groundstorage tanks in substantially the same shape, position, andconfiguration as settling pits 241, 243, and 245. Such storage tanks mayperform substantially the same function as settling pits 241, 243, and245 and are included within the scope of the present disclosure.

FIGS. 13-15 depict a more detailed embodiment of the evaporation area260. The evaporation area 260 may function substantially similar toevaporation area 160, with the exception that evaporation area 260 maybe configured to recover the evaporated water. The evaporation area 260may comprise an evaporator 264 that may further comprise a plurality ofnozzles 265. The nozzles 265 may be configured to emit a plurality ofsaltwater streams in a substantially circular pattern, which mayincrease the volume of air that is in contact with the saltwater, whichmay result in increased evaporation rates. The evaporation area 260 mayalso comprise a collection pit 262, which may be substantially similarto collection pit 162, except collection pit 262 may be substantiallycircular to collect salts deposited by the saltwater streams emitted bythe evaporator nozzles 265 in a radial pattern. The pattern may be anynumber of degrees, such as about 90, about 180, or about 360 degrees.The nozzles 265 may each comprise an electric ball valve that iscontrolled by the weather-monitoring controller 500 as discussed below.Each ball valve may be about two inches wide. The collection pit 262 mayhave a radius of about 150 feet. A liner covered central berm, which maybe about 30 feet wide, may extend radially from the perimeter of thecollection pit 262 to the center of the collection pit 262. Piping forthe nozzles 265 may extend though the central berm. The distance fromthe center of the collection pit 262 to the security fence 206 may beabout 218 feet. The distance from the center of the collection pit 262to the berm 208 may be about 202 feet. The evaporation area 260 may alsocomprise a fan 267, which may aid in increasing the evaporation rate ofthe saltwater streams. The evaporation area 260 may further comprise aplurality of condenser beams 270, which may support a plurality ofcondenser panels 266. A condenser beam 270 may be installed in thecenter of the collection pit 262 and extend vertically into the air.Condenser beams 270 may be installed in the ground along thecircumference of the collection pit 262, and may extend in radial linesfrom the circumference of the collection pit 262 to the center ofcollection pit 262. The condenser panels 266 may condense the evaporatedwater vapor and are discussed more fully below. The evaporation area 260may further comprise a water collection tank 261 in fluid communicationwith the condenser panels 266 and/or the condenser beams 270 for storingcondensed water collected from the condenser panels 266. The evaporationarea 260 may further comprise a pump 263 in fluid communication with thecondenser panels 266, which may utilize a geothermal system to cool airor other fluids for use in the condenser panels 266. The evaporationarea 260 may also comprise a salt screen 268 that may help prevent saltfrom being removed from the collection area by wind or similarenvironmental factors. The salt screen 268 may be about 40 feet tall andmay be supported by posts that may be about 50 feet tall and drivenabout 10 feet into the ground. The posts may be class two ChromatedCopper Aresenate (CCA) treated poles. The evaporation area 260 may alsocomprise overflow pipes that may allow excess un-evaporated liquids toflow back into the separation area as needed.

The salt storage area 280 may comprise a storage building. The saltstorage building may have a base of about 100 feet by 80 feet positionedon a six inch 4,000 pounds per square inch (PSI) concrete slab. Thesidewall of the storage building may comprise 2 feet by 2 feet by 6 feetconcrete blocks stacked in three layers and covered with a hot dippedgalvanized radius truss fabric structure and two fourteen foot byfourteen foot doors. A ramp may extend between the evaporation area 260and the salt storage area 280 to assist in the transport of recoveredsalt. The ramp may be fourteen feet wide and may be composed of concretewith a liner embedment.

Additionally, crossing stairways may be installed across the berms 208to allow controlled access to station components. The berms 208 and thesecurity fence 206 may be positioned at least twenty four feet apart toprovide space for paved access roads to the station components asdesired. Security fence gates may be installed to allow for securevehicular access. The security fence gates may be twenty feet wide.

FIG. 16 depicts another embodiment of production saltwater separationprocess 200. The reception area 220, the production saltwater storagearea 230, the separation area 240, and the evaporation area 260 in FIG.16 are similar to the reception area 220, the production saltwaterstorage area 230, the separation area 240, and the evaporation area 260in FIG. 14, and as such only the differences between FIGS. 14 and 16need be further described. Specifically, the reception area 220 maycontain at least one production saltwater receiving tank (four are shownin FIG. 16) that is configured to store the production saltwater priorto processing in the production saltwater storage area 230 and theseparation area 240. In addition, the separation area may contain aniodine separation unit 234. The iodine separation unit 234 may be anypiece of process equipment configured to separate iodine from theproduction saltwater. Typically, one of two separation processes isemployed depending on chemistry and temperature of the productionsaltwater: a chemical-based method using an anion exchange resin as anabsorption media to which the iodine anions are attracted; or one ormore physical filtration method that separates iodine from theproduction saltwater using a carbon trap. Several suitable iodineseparation units are available from lofina, PLC of London, England. Theiodine separation unit 234 may be configured to operate only when thereare sufficient quantities of iodine in the production saltwater toeconomically justify operation of the iodine isolation unit 234. Whennot in operation, the production saltwater may be accumulated or routedsuch that it bypasses the iodine isolation unit 234. The resultingiodine stream is then sent to an iodine solution tank 235 to awaittransport to another location.

The separation area 240 in FIG. 16 also replaces the settling pits ortanks with a production saltwater clarifying unit 236. The productionsaltwater clarifying unit 236 may be any piece of equipment configuredto remove organic compounds, heavy metals, trace amounts of radioactivematerials, and/or any other contaminants from the production saltwatersuch that the resulting stream consists essentially of water and salt.For example, the production saltwater clarifying unit 236 may employmicrobial bioremediation to remove organic compounds, heavy metals,trace amounts of radioactive materials, and/or any other contaminantsfrom the production saltwater. Microbial bioremediation can occuractively (bioaccumulation) and/or passively (biosorption) and may beeither aerobic or anaerobic. Microbial bioremediation has been shown tosuccessfully remove numerous metals and other undesirable elements fromsaltwater, including lead, chromium, arsenic, cobalt, zinc, copper,cadmium, nickel, mercury, uranium, barium, selenium, strontium,plutonium, thorium, technetium, and other elements that show an affinityfor sulfur and carbonate. Several suitable bioremediation units areavailable from the Zeotech Corporation of Fort Worth, Tex.

After the production saltwater leaves the production saltwaterclarifying unit 236, it may be stored in at least one saltwater holdingtank 237, four of which are shown in FIG. 16. The saltwater may bestored in the saltwater holding tank 237 until a sufficient quantity ofsaltwater exists to justify and/or environmental conditions areappropriate for operating the evaporation area 260. At such time, apumping unit 238 pumps the saltwater to the evaporation area 260. Freshwater recovered from the evaporation area 260 (e.g. via the condenserpanels described herein) may return to the water return tank 239, whereit may be shipped offsite or recycled back to the evaporation area 260if desired.

FIG. 17 further depicts the condenser panels 266 and condenser beams 270of FIG. 15. A condenser panel 266 may comprise a lower edge 266 a and anupper edge 266 b. The lower edge 266 a may be anchored to a condenserbeam 270, while the upper edge 266 b may be suspended from the condenserbeams 270, by rope, wire, chords, bars, or similar materials. Thecondenser panel 266 may be positioned at an angle relative to the groundto expose a substantial portion of the surface area of the condenserpanel 266 to the rising water vapor emitted from the evaporation area260, while allowing the condensed water on the surface of the condenserpanel 266 to flow down the surface of the panel and fall off of thelower edge 266 a. The evaporation area 260 may comprise collectiongutters 269 suspended between the condenser beams 270 and positionedbelow the lower edge 266 a to collect condensed water flowing from thecondenser panel 266 and direct the water flow to the water collectiontank 261.

FIGS. 18 and 19 further depict the water condenser panel 266. A watercondenser panel 266 may comprise a frame 272 and tubing 273. The frame272 may be rectangular or another shape and may be large enough tocontain the tubing 273 and any necessary water condenser panel 266parts. The frame 272 may comprise a lower surface 272 a and an uppersurface 272 b. The frame 272 may be constructed of any material durableenough to retain the tubing 273, such as fiberglass, glass, tin,plastic, steel, or any other suitable material or combination thereof.The frame 272 may be constructed of suitable materials to allow thermalconduction between the tubing 273 and the lower surface 272 a and/or theupper surface 272 b of the frame 272. The tubing 273 may be inpressurized communication with pump 263 (not shown in FIGS. 18 and 19)and/or the tubing of another water condenser panel 266. The tubing 273may accept relatively low temperature air, water, or other fluid fromthe pump 263, allow the fluid to cool the lower surface 272 a and/orupper surface 272 b to a temperature lower than the condensation pointof water. Water vapor may condense (i.e. convert from a gaseous phase toa liquid phase) upon coming into contact with the frame 272 due to thereduced temperature caused by the low temperature air in the tubing 273.The frame 272 may be coated with hydrophilic paint to promotecondensation.

The water condenser panel 266 may further comprise a reflective panel274 connected to the frame 272 by one or more spacers 275. Thereflective panel 274 may be positioned above the frame 272 and may beconstructed from and/or coated with an opaque material suitable to shadethe frame 272 from direct sunlight and related heat. The reflectivepanel 274 may also be constructed from and/or coated with a reflectivematerial suitable to reflect sunrays away from the frame 272. Thespacers 275 may be of suitable length to create an air gap 277 betweenthe frame 272 and the reflective panel 274. The air gap 277 should be ofsufficient distance to create an insulating barrier between thereflective panel 274 and the frame 272 and reduce thermal transferencebetween the reflective panel 274 and the frame 272.

The water condenser panel 266 may further comprise one or more hinges276 and one or more anchor points 278. The hinges 276 may be attached toa plurality of condenser beams 270. The condenser panel 266 may besuspended from the condenser beams 270 by a cable or similar deviceattached to the anchor points 278. This configuration allows the lowersurface 272 a of the frame 272 to be positioned over an evaporation areaand adjusted to allow the greatest surface area of the condenser panel266 to be exposed to water vapor, while allowing the condensed water toflow into collection gutters 269.

FIG. 20 is a schematic view of an embodiment of a water collectionsystem of the evaporation area of FIG. 15. As discussed above, thecollection gutters 269 may collect condensed water and direct the waterflow to a water collection tank 261. Additionally and/or alternatively,a water collection tank 261 may allow water to flow to and/or from otherwater collection tanks 261. The water collection tanks 261 may beconnected to each other and/or to the collection gutters 269 by piping271 of sufficient strength, diameter, and length to direct the desiredvolume of water from the water's source to the water's intendeddestination.

FIG. 21 is a plan view of another embodiment of the salt productionstation 300. The salt production station 300 may comprise substantiallythe same components as production saltwater separation process 200, butthe evaporation area 360 may be arranged in a different configuration.As with the production saltwater separation process 200 the saltproduction station 300 may comprise a reception area 320, a productionsaltwater storage area 330, a separation area 340, an evaporation area360, and a salt storage area 380 arranged as shown in FIG. 21.Production saltwater may be received from trucks or via pipeline at thereception area 320 and stored in the production saltwater storage area330 for storage and removal of the hydrocarbons. The productionsaltwater may then flow into the separation area 340 where metals andcomponents other than salt and water are removed. The remainingsaltwater may then flow into the evaporation area 360 where the water isseparated from the salt via evaporation. The salt is recovered from theground in the evaporation area 360, and then stored in the salt storagearea 380. The salt production station 300 may be surrounded asappropriate by security fence 306, berms 308, and wind-deflectingfencing 309 to provide site security, privacy, fluid containment in caseof leaks, and/or wind protection. Unlike production saltwater separationprocess 200, salt production station 300 may comprise an evaporationarea 360 with a collection pit 362 in a semicircular shape. Thesemicircular shape of collection pit 362 may result in slowerevaporation than collection pit 262, and may be employed for saltproduction station embodiments that accept production saltwater withreduced saltwater yields or with limited production saltwater intake.

FIG. 22 is a plan view of another embodiment of the salt productionstation 400. The salt production station 400 may comprise substantiallythe same components as salt production station 300, but the evaporationarea 460 may be arranged in a different configuration. As with the saltproduction station 300 the salt production station 400 may comprise areception area 420, a production saltwater storage area 430, aseparation area 440, an evaporation area 460, and a salt storage area480 arranged as shown in FIG. 22. Production saltwater may be receivedfrom trucks or via pipeline at the reception area 420 and stored in theproduction saltwater storage area 430 for storage and removal of thehydrocarbons. The production saltwater may then flow into the separationarea 440 where metals and components other than salt and water areremoved. The remaining saltwater may then flow into the evaporation area460 where the water is separated from the salt via evaporation. The saltis recovered from the ground in the evaporation area 460, and thenstored in the salt storage area 480. The salt production station 400 maybe surrounded as appropriate by security fence 406, berms 408, andwind-deflecting fence 409 to provide site security, privacy, fluidcontainment in case of leaks, and/or wind protection. Unlike saltproduction station 300, salt production station 400 may comprise anevaporation area 460 with a collection pit 462 in a quarter-circleshape. The quarter circle shape of collection pit 462 may result inslower evaporation than collection pit 362, and may be employed forstation embodiments that accept production saltwater with reducedsaltwater yields or with limited production saltwater intake. It willalso be appreciated that the salt production station 400 may have acombination of evaporation pit geometries. For example, the evaporationpit may have two semicircular areas, or one semicircular are and twoquarter-circular areas. The evaporation pit may also be configured witha combination of circular or partial circular sections and rectangular(or any other shape) sections. Also, the wind-deflecting fence 409 mayextend completely around or partially around the perimeter of any suchcollection of pit geometries.

FIG. 23 is a schematic view of an embodiment of a weather-monitoringcontroller 500. The weather-monitoring controller 500 may be inelectrical communication with the components of the production saltwaterseparation process 200, 300, and 400 and may be configured to haltstation processes in response to changing weather conditions. Forexample, the weather-monitoring controller 500 may be configured tosuspend evaporation processes when weather conditions are not optimalfor evaporation due to precipitation, high winds, high humidity, lowtemperature, or high atmospheric pressure. The weather-monitoringcontroller 500 may also suspend evaporation processes when wind speed issufficient to blow the saltwater mixture streams or the salt removedfrom the saltwater out of the collection pit. Specifically, theproduction saltwater separation process 200, 300, and 400 may comprise aplurality of electric valves that may be open or shut by theweather-monitoring controller 500. Salt production station operators mayopen or shut the electronic valves to effect or prevent the flow ofliquids at the salt production station.

The weather-monitoring controller 500 may comprise a weather server 510and a weather monitor 520. The weather monitor 520 may be configureddetect current humidity, temperature, wind speed, barometric pressureand/or changes thereof and transmit associated date to the weatherserver 510 over an electrical and/or wireless connection. The weatherserver 510, which may be electrically connected to shutoff valvesinstalled in the piping in a salt production station and may beconfigured to selectively close the shutoff valves to stop the fluidflows between the salt production station components and preventoperations in response to data received from the weather monitor 520,such as wind speed and direction, temperature, pressure, dewpoint/relative humidity, etc. A surge protector 530 may be positioned tobreak the connection between the weather server 510 and weather monitor520 to prevent damage to the weather server 510 in case of lightningstrikes to the weather monitor 520. The weather server 510 may beconnected to one or more display consoles 550 and/or server controlsystems 560 for viewing the status of the weather or the equipment andfor controlling the weather server 510. The display consoles 550 and/orthe server control systems 560 may be configured to operate usingWeather Master Software produced by Columbia Weather Systems. Theweather server 510 may connect to the other weather monitoringcontroller 500 components through a typical network 570, such as anEthernet network, and/or through appropriate industry standard interfacemodules 540 as needed. The network 570 may be configured to acceptremote connections 580 through the internet, which may allow saltproduction station operators to access and manage the weather server 510and thus the operation of the salt production station from a remotelocation.

In further embodiments according to the present disclosure, one or moresalt-containing aqueous streams or products disclosed herein may be usedto service a wellbore, e.g., as a wellbore servicing fluid orcomposition, or a component thereof. For example, one or moresalt-containing aqueous streams or products disclosed herein may betransported to a wellsite and placed in a wellbore to provide a serviceto the wellbore. Additionally or alternatively, one or moresalt-containing aqueous streams or products disclosed herein may be usedas a component in a wellbore servicing fluid or composition, and theresultant wellbore servicing fluid or composition may be placed in awellbore at a wellsite to provide a service to the wellbore. The one ormore salt-containing aqueous products or streams used to service awellbore may be used “as is” or “as existing” or otherwise unmodified incomposition from that existing within the context of the variousprocesses and systems described herein. Additionally or alternatively,the one or more salt-containing aqueous products or streams used toservice a wellbore may be modified via one or more further processingsteps to adjust a parameter or characteristic thereof. For example thesalinity of one or more salt-containing aqueous products or streams maybe adjusted up or down to form one or more adjusted/modified products oradjusted/modified streams, and the one or more adjusted/modifiedproducts or adjusted/modified streams may be used to service a wellbore.

Accordingly, a number of options are available for using one or moresalt-containing aqueous streams or products disclosed herein to servicea wellbore and/or prepare a wellbore servicing fluid, including: (i) useof an unmodified salt-containing aqueous stream or product disclosedherein as a wellbore servicing fluid with minimal or no additionalcomponents or additives (e.g., used as a pressure control fluid within awellbore); (ii) use of an unmodified salt-containing aqueous stream orproduct disclosed herein as a component in a wellbore servicing fluid orcomposition with one or more additional wellbore servicing fluidcomponents or additives (e.g., used as an aqueous base fluid to producea fracturing fluid or an aqueous based drilling fluid); (iii) use of amodified salt-containing aqueous stream or product disclosed herein as awellbore servicing fluid with minimal or no additional components oradditives (e.g., used as a pressure control fluid within a wellbore);(iv) use of a modified salt-containing aqueous stream or productdisclosed herein as a component in a wellbore servicing fluid orcomposition with one or more additional components or additives (e.g.,used as an aqueous base fluid to produce a fracturing fluid or anaqueous based drilling fluid); or (v) combinations thereof. For example,one or more of the following salt-containing aqueous streams or productsdisclosed herein may be used in a modified or unmodified state as awellbore servicing fluid or component thereof in any of the options (i)through (v) of this paragraph: saltwater post hydrocarbon separation inhydrocarbon separation area 130 or storage area 230 (e.g., saltwaterfrom the gun barrel separator 132 via discharge pipe 134 as shown inFIG. 4 or saltwater from gun barrel separator 232 as shown in FIGS. 14and 16); saltwater post hydrocarbon and/or solids separation in solidsseparation area 140 or separation area 240 (e.g., saltwater which issubstantially free of solids and hydrocarbons removed from the thirdsettling pit 145 via discharge pipe 146 as shown in FIGS. 4-9, saltwaterthat is recovered from third settling pit 245 as shown in FIG. 14,saltwater that is recovered from the iodine separation unit 234 as shownin FIG. 16, or clarified saltwater that is recovered from the clarifyingunit 236 and/or one of the clarified water storage tanks 237 as shown inFIG. 16); and/or saltwater post evaporation in evaporation area 160(e.g., residual, unevaporated saltwater collected via drain 163 fromcollection pit 162 as shown in FIGS. 11 and 12 or unevaporated saltwatercollected in evaporation area 260 shown in FIGS. 14 through 16,evaporation area 360 of FIG. 21, or evaporation area 460 of FIG. 22.).

Furthermore, fresh water (e.g., fresh, condensed water from condenserpanels 266 and/or condenser beam 270 and collected in fresh watercollection tank 261 as shown in FIG. 15) produced in accordance with thepresent disclosure may be used to service a wellbore and/or prepare awellbore servicing fluid, including use as a component in a wellboreservicing fluid or composition with one or more additional components oradditives (e.g., as an aqueous base fluid to produce a fracturing fluidor an aqueous based drilling fluid).

Use of various fresh water and saltwater streams or products disclosedherein having been described collectively for use in servicing awellbore and/or preparing a wellbore servicing fluid, one or morenon-limiting embodiments will now be disclosed regarding the use of aparticular unmodified or modified stream for use in servicing a wellboreand/or preparing a wellbore servicing fluid, with the understanding thatany stream or product disclosed herein may be used in a similar fashionin either an unmodified state/condition or modified state/condition.

In an embodiment, saltwater that remains unevaporated after beingsprayed though the evaporators (e.g., evaporator 164 or 264) iscollected or otherwise recovered and may be referred to as residualsaltwater or recovered unevaporated saltwater. For example, recoveredunevaporated saltwater may be collected and recovered from thecollection pit 162, for example via a collector such as drain 163 asshown in FIGS. 11 and 12. The recovered unevaporated saltwater may bepumped or otherwise transferred via suitable conduits to one or moreunevaporated saltwater storage vessels 126 shown in FIG. 16. Storagevessels described herein may be tanks, trailers, or the like and may befixed or portable (e.g., rail or road transportable tanker trailer).Storage vessels 126 may be placed at any suitable location within theproduction saltwater separation process 200, for example in storage area130 or 230 or separation area 240.

Because a portion of the water that is present in the saltwater that issprayed through the evaporators (e.g., saltwater which is substantiallyfree of solids and hydrocarbons and removed from the third settling pit145 via discharge pipe 146 as shown in FIGS. 4-9, saltwater that isrecovered from third settling pit 245 as shown in FIG. 14, or clarifiedsaltwater that is recovered from the clarifying unit 236 and/or one ofthe clarified water storage tanks 237 as shown in FIG. 16) does in factevaporate, the recovered unevaporated saltwater typically has a salinitythat is greater than the salinity of the saltwater fed to theevaporators prior to spraying through the evaporator. Accordingly, insome instances the recovered unevaporated saltwater may be referred toas a heavy brine. The salinity of the recovered unevaporated saltwatermay vary over time due to the differences in evaporative efficiency ofthe evaporators resulting from variations in ambient weather conditionsduring evaporation operations, variations in the salinity of thesaltwater fed to the evaporators, flow rate through the evaporators,other process variables, or combinations thereof.

The salinity of the recovered unevaporated saltwater may be measured.For example, a sample of recovered unevaporated saltwater may be takenfrom a storage vessel 126 and analyzed to determine the salinity of therecovered unevaporated saltwater contained therein, and such measuredsalinity may be referred to as a baseline salinity of the recoveredunevaporated saltwater. The recovered unevaporated saltwater may have abaseline salinity, expressed as pounds of salt per 42 gallon barrel(lbs/bbl) of liquid, of equal to or greater than about 8, 9, 10, 11, 12,13, 14, or 15 lbs/bbl; alternatively, a baseline salinity in a rangehaving a lower endpoint of equal to or greater than 8, 9, 10, 11, 12,13, or 14 lbs/bbl and having an upper endpoint of equal to or less than15, 14, 13, 12, 11, 10, or 9 lbs/bbl, wherein the lower endpoint is lessthan the upper endpoint; alternatively a baseline salinity in a range offrom about 8 lbs/bbl to about 16 lbs/bbl, or alternatively a baselinesalinity of from about 10 lbs/bbl to about 15 lbs/bbl.

The recovered unevaporated saltwater may be used “as is” (i.e., havingthe baseline salinity as measured) in wellbore servicing operations asdescribed herein. Additionally or alternatively, the salinity of therecovered unevaporated saltwater may be altered or adjusted up or downfrom the measured baseline to provide an adjusted brine product having adesired or target salinity as described in more detail herein. Theadjusted brine product may be used in directly (e.g., pumped downhole asis) or indirectly (e.g., used as a component in a wellbore servicingfluid) in wellbore servicing operations as described herein.

In order to adjust or modify the baseline salinity, the amount ofdissolved salt and/or water present in the recovered unevaporatedsaltwater may be adjusted or modified. For example, crystalline salt,fresh water, and/or a salt solution having a relatively higher or lowersalinity compared to the baseline salinity may be added to the recoveredunevaporated saltwater to adjust or modify the baseline salinity. Thecrystalline salt, fresh water, and/or salt solution may be added to therecovered unevaporated saltwater under agitation, mixing, sheer, or thelike in any suitable manner, for example, in a mix vessel 127 as shownin FIGS. 16 and 24. Suitable mix vessels include fixed or portablevessels having fixed or removable mixers or agitators disposed therein.

As shown in FIG. 24, dedicated mix vessel 127 may be in fluidcommunication with one or more feed vessels or sources to receive andblend various feed components, thereby producing an adjusted brineproduct and/or wellbore servicing fluid as described herein. Recoveredunevaporated saltwater having a baseline salinity (e.g., from storagevessel 126) may be added to the mix vessel 127 via feed stream 247.Crystalline salt (e.g., salt from collection pit 162) may be added tothe mix vessel 127 via feed stream 246. Fresh water from a suitablefresh water source (e.g., fresh water return tank 239 in FIG. 16) may beadded to the mix vessel 127 via feed stream 248. A dilute salt solutionfrom storage vessel 122 may be added to the mix vessel 127 via feedstream 251. A concentrated salt solution from storage vessel 123 may beadded to the mix vessel 127 via feed stream 249. As the crystallinesalt, fresh water, and/or salt solution is added to the mix vessel 127,the salinity of the admixture may be sampled and measured periodicallyand/or continuously in real-time, for example with a salinity probe orsensor 137 disposed within the mix vessel 127. Addition of crystallinesalt, fresh water, and or salt solution may be halted upon meeting atarget salinity or density specification (e.g., a target salinity and/ordensity specification suitable for use in wellbore servicingoperations). Optionally, one or more wellbore serving fluid componentsor additives may be added to the mix vessel 127 via feed stream 252 toproduce a wellbore servicing fluid product. Output from the mix vessel127 may be transferred via stream 254 to one or more product storagevessels, for example one or more adjusted brine product storage vessels128 receiving an adjusted brine product having an adjusted salinity orone or more wellbore servicing fluid storage vessels 129 receiving awellbore servicing fluid product that is produced at the salt productionstation 110 and subsequently transported to a wellsite for use in awellbore servicing operation.

In order to increase the baseline salinity, recovered unevaporatedsaltwater may be transferred from a storage vessel 126 into mix vessel127 via feed stream 247, and crystalline salt may be added via feedstream 246 to the recovered unevaporated saltwater present in mix vessel127 and/or a concentrated salt solution having a relative salinitygreater than the baseline salinity may be transferred from storagevessel 123 via feed stream 249 to the recovered unevaporated saltwaterpresent in the mix vessel 127. Crystalline salt may be obtained from thecollection pit 162 and added to the mix vessel 127 to increase thesalinity of the contents of the mix vessel and form an adjusted brineproduct. Additionally or alternatively, a concentrated salt solution maybe prepared or otherwise obtained and stored in storage vessel 123 andadded to the mix vessel to increase the salinity of the contents of themix vessel and form an adjusted brine product. In an embodiment, theconcentrated salt solution may be prepared, for example by addingcrystalline salt to any of the following streams: saltwater posthydrocarbon separation in hydrocarbon separation area 130 or storagearea 230 (e.g., saltwater from the gun barrel separator 132 viadischarge pipe 134 as shown in FIG. 4 or saltwater from gun barrelseparator 232 as shown in FIGS. 14 and 16); saltwater post hydrocarbonand/or solids separation in solids separation area 140 or separationarea 240 (e.g., saltwater which is substantially free of solids andhydrocarbons and removed from the third settling pit 145 via dischargepipe 146 as shown in FIGS. 4-9, saltwater that is recovered from thirdsettling pit 245 as shown in FIG. 14, saltwater that is recovered fromthe iodine separation unit 234 as shown in FIG. 16, or clarifiedsaltwater that is recovered from the clarifying unit 236 and/or one ofthe clarified water storage tanks 237 as shown in FIG. 16); and/orsaltwater post evaporation in evaporation area 160 (e.g., residual,unevaporated saltwater collected via drain 163 from collection pit 162as shown in FIGS. 11 and 12 or unevaporated saltwater collected inevaporation area 260 shown in FIGS. 14 through 16, evaporation area 360of FIG. 21, or evaporation area 460 of FIG. 22.) Additionally oralternatively, the concentrated salt solution may be an existing productor stream (e.g., any of the streams listed in the preceding sentence)that is used “as is” to increase the baseline salinity of the recoveredunevaporated saltwater where said existing product or stream has asalinity that is greater than the baseline salinity that is to beincreased.

In order to decrease the baseline salinity, recovered unevaporatedsaltwater may be transferred from a storage vessel 126 into mix vessel127 via feed stream 247, and fresh water may be added via feed stream248 to the recovered unevaporated saltwater present in the mix vessel127 and/or a diluted salt solution having a relative salinity less thanthe baseline salinity may be transferred from storage vessel 122 viafeed stream 251 to the recovered unevaporated saltwater present in themix vessel 127. Fresh water may be obtained from any suitable source(e.g., well water, surface water, a river or stream, condensed waterfrom tank 261 in FIG. 15 and/or tank 239 in FIG. 16, or combinationsthereof) and added to the mix vessel 127 to decrease the salinity of thecontents of the mix vessel and form an adjusted brine product.Additionally or alternatively, a diluted salt solution may be preparedor otherwise obtained and stored in storage vessel 122 and added to themix vessel to decrease the salinity of the contents of the mix vesseland form an adjusted brine product. In an embodiment, the diluted saltsolution may be prepared, for example by adding fresh water to any ofthe following streams: saltwater post hydrocarbon separation inhydrocarbon separation area 130 or storage area 230 (e.g., saltwaterfrom the gun barrel separator 132 via discharge pipe 134 as shown inFIG. 4 or saltwater from gun barrel separator 232 as shown in FIGS. 14and 16); saltwater post hydrocarbon and/or solids separation in solidsseparation area 140 or separation area 240 (e.g., saltwater which issubstantially free of solids and hydrocarbons removed from the thirdsettling pit 145 via discharge pipe 146 as shown in FIGS. 4-9, saltwaterthat is recovered from third settling pit 245 as shown in FIG. 14,saltwater that is recovered from the iodine separation unit 234 as shownin FIG. 16, or clarified saltwater that is recovered from the clarifyingunit 236 and/or one of the clarified water storage tanks 237 as shown inFIG. 16); and/or saltwater post evaporation in evaporation area 160(e.g., residual, unevaporated saltwater collected via drain 163 fromcollection pit 162 as shown in FIGS. 11 and 12 or unevaporated saltwatercollected in evaporation area 260 shown in FIGS. 14 through 16,evaporation area 360 of FIG. 21, or evaporation area 460 of FIG. 22.)Additionally or alternatively, the diluted salt solution may be anexisting product or stream (e.g., any of the streams listed in thepreceding sentence) that is used “as is” to decrease the baselinesalinity of the recovered unevaporated saltwater where said existingproduct or stream has a salinity that is less than the baseline salinitythat is to be decreased. In an embodiment clarified saltwater that isrecovered from the clarifying unit 236 and/or one of the clarified waterstorage tanks 237 as shown in FIG. 16 is added to the recoveredunevaporated saltwater present in mix vessel 127 to decrease thebaseline salinity and yield an adjusted brine product.

In an embodiment, a first storage vessel 126 comprises a first recoveredunevaporated saltwater having a measured first baseline salinity, asecond storage vessel 126 comprises a second recovered unevaporatedsaltwater having a measured second baseline salinity that is differentfrom (e.g., greater than or less than) the first baseline salinity, andall or a portion of the first and second recovered unevaporatedsaltwater may be blended together (e.g., all or a portion of thecontents of the first storage vessel may be transferred to the secondstorage vessel or vice-versa or all or a portion of the contents of thefirst and second storage vessels may be transferred to mix vessel 127and blended therein) to form an adjusted brine product having anadjusted salinity conforming to a target salinity and/or densityspecification (e.g., a target salinity and/or density specificationsuitable for direct (e.g., pumped downhole as is) or indirect (e.g.,used as a component in a wellbore servicing fluid) use in wellboreservicing operations).

In an embodiment, the baseline salinity of the recovered unevaporatedsaltwater is adjusted up or down to provide an adjusted brine producthaving a salinity suitable for use directly as a wellbore servicingfluid in a wellbore servicing operation and/or indirectly as a componentin a wellbore servicing fluid or composition. In an embodiment, theadjusted brine product may have an adjusted salinity, expressed aspounds of salt per 42 gallon barrel of liquid (lbs/bbl), of equal to orgreater than about 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15,16, or 17 lbs/bbl; alternatively, an adjusted salinity in a range havinga lower endpoint of equal to or greater than 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9,10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, or 17 lbs/bbl and having an upper endpointof equal to or less than 18, 17, 16, 15, 14, 13, 12, 11, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6,5, 4, 3, or 2 lbs/bbl, wherein the lower endpoint is less than the upperendpoint; alternatively, an adjusted salinity in a range of from about 1lbs/bbl to about 18 lbs/bbl, alternatively an adjusted salinity in arange of from about 5 lbs/bbl to about 18 lbs/bbl, alternatively anadjusted salinity in a range of from about 8 lbs/bbl to about 18lbs/bbl, alternatively an adjusted salinity in a range of from about 10lbs/bbl to about 18 lbs/bbl, alternatively an adjusted salinity in arange of from about 12 lbs/bbl to about 18 lbs/bbl, alternatively anadjusted salinity in a range of from about 1 lbs/bbl to about 10lbs/bbl, alternatively an adjusted salinity in a range of from about 3lbs/bbl to about 10 lbs/bbl, alternatively an adjusted salinity in arange of from about 5 lbs/bbl to about 10 lbs/bbl, or alternatively anadjusted salinity in a range of from about 7 lbs/bbl to about 10lbs/bbl.

In an embodiment, the density of the recovered unevaporated saltwater isadjusted up or down to provide an adjusted brine product having adensity suitable for use as a wellbore servicing fluid in a wellboreservicing operation. In an embodiment, the adjusted brine product mayhave an adjusted density, expressed as pounds-mass per gallon (lbm/galor ppg) in a range having a lower endpoint of equal to or greater than8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, or 19 ppg and having an upperendpoint of equal to or less than 20, 19, 18, 17, 16, 15, 14, 13, 12,11, 10, or 9 ppg wherein the lower endpoint is less than the upperendpoint; alternatively an adjusted density in a range of from about 8.4ppg to about 20 ppg; alternatively an adjusted density in a range offrom about 10 ppg to about 20 ppg; alternatively an adjusted density ina range of from about 12 ppg to about 20 ppg; alternatively an adjusteddensity in a range of from about 14 ppg to about 20 ppg; alternativelyan adjusted density in a range of from about 8.4 ppg to about 18 ppg;alternatively an adjusted density in a range of from about 8.4 ppg toabout 16 ppg; alternatively an adjusted density in a range of from about8.4 ppg to about 14 ppg; or alternatively an adjusted density in a rangeof from about 8.4 ppg to about 12 ppg.

In an embodiment, recovered unevaporated saltwater having a baselinesalinity as described herein and/or an adjusted brine product having anadjusted salinity as described herein may be used “as is” in a wellboreservicing operation. For example, a recovered unevaporated saltwaterhaving a baseline salinity as described herein and/or an adjusted brineproduct having an adjusted salinity as described herein may betransported to a wellsite and used as a pressure control fluid toprovide a hydrostatic pressure in the wellbore to aid in offsetting andcontrolling formation pressure of the wellbore to avoid a potentiallyhazardous well blowout. In one or more embodiments, a recoveredunevaporated saltwater having a baseline salinity as described hereinand/or an adjusted brine product having an adjusted salinity asdescribed herein may be transported to a wellsite and pumped into thewellbore as a completion or workover fluid effective to avoidparticulate plugging or damage to the formation, inhibit undesirableformation reactions such as clay swelling, control wellbore pressure, orcombinations thereof. In an embodiment, a recovered unevaporatedsaltwater having a baseline salinity as described herein and/or anadjusted brine product having an adjusted salinity as described hereinmay be transported to a wellsite and used as a workover fluid used for aworkover operation on an existing production well.

In an embodiment, recovered unevaporated saltwater having a baselinesalinity as described herein and/or an adjusted brine product having anadjusted salinity as described herein may be used as a component to forma wellbore servicing fluid which is subsequently used in a wellboreservicing operation. For example, the recovered unevaporated saltwaterhaving a baseline salinity as described herein and/or an adjusted brineproduct having an adjusted salinity as described herein may be combinedwith one or more additional wellbore servicing fluid components oradditives to form a wellbore servicing fluid (e.g., an aqueous basedwellbore servicing fluid) which is subsequently used in a wellboreservicing operation. The wellbore servicing fluid may be produced at thesalt production station 110 (e.g., in mix vessel 127 and held in storagevessel 129) and subsequently transported to a wellsite for use in awellbore servicing operation. Additionally or alternatively, a recoveredunevaporated saltwater having a baseline salinity as described hereinand/or an adjusted brine product having an adjusted salinity asdescribed herein may be transported to a wellsite, mixed with one ormore additional wellbore servicing fluids or additives to form awellbore servicing fluid, and pumped into the wellbore to perform aservicing operation. The wellbore servicing fluid and associatedservicing operation may be any suitable wellbore servicing fluid thatmay be formed using any of the products or streams of the type describedherein, e.g., recovered unevaporated saltwater having a baselinesalinity as described herein and/or an adjusted brine product having anadjusted salinity as described herein. Examples of suitable wellboreservicing fluids (and associated servicing operation) include fracturingfluids, drilling fluids, workover fluids, completion fluids, pressurecontrol fluids, breaker fluids, cleaning fluids, carrier fluid,displacement fluid, kill weight fluid, packer fluid, or spacer fluid.Such wellbore servicing fluids may contain additional components andadditives of the type and in amounts known to persons skilled in the artof wellbore servicing fluid preparation and use.

In an embodiment, recovered unevaporated saltwater and/or an adjustedbrine product may be used as a component to form a fracturing fluid. Inan embodiment, the unevaporated saltwater or the adjusted brine productsuitable for use as a component in a fracturing fluid may have asalinity, expressed as pounds of salt per 42 gallon barrel of liquid(lbs/bbl), of equal to or greater than about 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, or9 lbs/bbl; alternatively, a salinity in a range having a lower endpointof equal to or greater than 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, or 9 lbs/bbl andhaving an upper endpoint of equal to or less than 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4,3, or 2 lbs/bbl, wherein the lower endpoint is less than the upperendpoint; alternatively, alternatively a salinity in a range of fromabout 1 lbs/bbl to about 10 lbs/bbl, alternatively a salinity in a rangeof from about 3 lbs/bbl to about 10 lbs/bbl, alternatively a salinity ina range of from about 5 lbs/bbl to about 10 lbs/bbl, alternatively asalinity in a range of from about 7 lbs/bbl to about 10 lbs/bbl,alternatively a salinity in a range of from about 1 lbs/bbl to about 9lbs/bbl, alternatively a salinity in a range of from about 1 lbs/bbl toabout 7 lbs/bbl, alternatively a salinity in a range of from about 3lbs/bbl to about 7 lbs/bbl, or alternatively a salinity in a range offrom about 1 lbs/bbl to about 5 lbs/bbl. The fracturing fluid may beformed by mixing recovered unevaporated saltwater and/or an adjustedbrine product with a gel system and one or more proppant materials. Gelssystems may include uncrosslinked polymers and/or crosslinked polymers.In an embodiment, the gel system may comprise guar gum or theirderivatives (e.g., hydroxypropyl guar, carboxymethyl guar, carboxymethylhydroxypropyl guar), cellulose or their derivatives (hydroxyethylcellulose, carboxylmethyl hydroxyethyl cellulose), polyacrylic acid,polyacrylamide, partially hydrolyzed polyacrylamide,acrylamide-methyl-propane sulfonate, a cross-linker (e.g., borates,titanates, zirconates), a breaker (e.g., oxidizer, enzymatic, acids), asurfactant, or combinations thereof. The proppant materials may comprisesand (e.g., silica sand), treated sand (e.g., resin coated sand),plastic beads, ceramic particles, minerals or ores (e.g., bauxite), andcombinations thereof.

In an embodiment, recovered unevaporated saltwater having a baselinesalinity as described herein and/or an adjusted brine product having anadjusted salinity as described herein may be used as a component to forma drilling fluid. In an embodiment, the unevaporated saltwater or theadjusted brine product suitable for use as a component in a drillingfluid may have a salinity, expressed as pounds of salt per 42 gallonbarrel of liquid (lbs/bbl), of equal to or greater than about 10, 11,12, 13, 14, 15, 16, or 17 lbs/bbl; alternatively, a salinity in a rangehaving a lower endpoint of equal to or greater than 10, 11, 12, 13, 14,15, 16, or 17 lbs/bbl and having an upper endpoint of equal to or lessthan 18, 17, 16, 15, 14, 13, 12, or 11 lbs/bbl, wherein the lowerendpoint is less than the upper endpoint; alternatively a salinity in arange of from about 10 lbs/bbl to about 18 lbs/bbl, alternatively asalinity in a range of from about 12 lbs/bbl to about 18 lbs/bbl,alternatively a salinity in a range of from about 14 lbs/bbl to about 18lbs/bbl, alternatively a salinity in a range of from about 16 lbs/bbl toabout 18 lbs/bbl, alternatively a salinity in a range of from about 10lbs/bbl to about 16 lbs/bbl, or alternatively a salinity in a range offrom about 10 lbs/bbl to about 14 lbs/bbl. In an embodiment, therecovered unevaporated saltwater or the adjusted brine product issuitable for use as a component in an aqueous based drilling fluid, anoil based drilling fluid, or an emulsion drilling fluid (oil in wateremulsion or water in oil emulsion). In an embodiment, the drilling fluidmay be formed by mixing recovered unevaporated saltwater and/or anadjusted brine product with clay such as bentonite to form a pumpableslurry or “mud”. The drilling fluid may contain additional componentssuch as weighting agents (e.g., galena, hematite, magnetite, iron oxide,lilmenite, barite, siderite, celesite, dolomite, calcite, salts),viscosifiers (e.g., bentonite, sepiolite, attapulgite, organophillicclays, aluminosilicates, talc), fluid-loss or filtration controlmaterials (e.g., organophillic lignite), rheology control material(e.g., plant tannins, phosphates, modified lignosulfonates, lowmolecular weight synthetic water-soluble polymers), alkalinity and pHcontrol additives (NaOH, KOH, Ca(OH)₂, Mg(OH)₂), lost circulationmaterials (fibrous materials such as shredded sugar cane, cotton fibers,hog hair, shredded automobile tires, wood fibers, sawdust, paper pulp;and/or granular materials such as ground nut shells, ground carbonates),lubricants (synthetic oils, vegetable oils, animal oils, mineral oils,diesel oil, graphite, polymers, gilsonite), flocculating materials(salt, hydrated lime, gypsum, synthetic polymers), surfactants,emulsifiers, foaming agents, stuck pipe additives, and corrosioninhibitors. In an embodiment, the recovered unevaporated saltwater orthe adjusted brine product is used as a component in a heavy drillingfluid used to control wellbore pressure, for example formulated as akill weight fluid having a density that is high enough to produce ahydrostatic pressure at the point of influx in a wellbore and shut offflow into the well.

ADDITIONAL DISCLOSURE

A first aspect, which is a process comprising:

spraying production saltwater comprising water and dissolved saltthrough an evaporator to evaporate a portion of the water;

collecting unevaporated saltwater which is an unevaporated portion ofthe saltwater that remains after being sprayed through the evaporator;and

adjusting a salinity of at least a portion of the unevaporated saltwaterto yield an adjusted brine product.

A second aspect, which is the process of the first aspect wherein theadjusting comprises increasing the salinity of the unevaporatedsaltwater by addition of salt to the unevaporated saltwater.

A third aspect, which is the process of any one of the first or thesecond aspect wherein the adjusting comprises increasing the salinity ofthe unevaporated saltwater by addition of a concentrated brine having asalinity that is greater than the salinity of the unevaporatedsaltwater.

A fourth aspect, which is the process of the first aspect wherein theadjusting comprising decreasing the salinity of the unevaporated waterby addition of fresh water to the unevaporated saltwater.

A fifth aspect, which is the process of any one of the first or thefourth aspect wherein the adjusting comprises decreasing the salinity ofthe unevaporated saltwater by addition of a diluted brine having asalinity that is less than the salinity of the unevaporated saltwater.

A sixth aspect, which is the process of any one of the first to thefifth aspects wherein the adjusted brine product has a salinity of fromabout 1 lb/bbl to about 10 lbs/bbl.

A seventh aspect, which is the process of the sixth aspect furthercomprising mixing a gel system and a proppant material with the adjustedbrine product to yield a fracturing fluid.

An eighth aspect, which is the process of the seventh aspect wherein thegel system comprises guar gum or their derivatives, a cross-linker, abreaker, a surfactant, or combinations thereof.

A ninth aspect, which is the process of any one of the first to thefifth aspects wherein the adjusted brine product has a salinity of fromabout 10 lbs/bbl to about 18 lbs/bbl.

A tenth aspect, which is the process of the ninth aspect furthercomprising mixing clay with the adjusted brine product to yield adrilling fluid.

An eleventh aspect, which is the process of any one of the first to thetenth aspects further comprising transporting a portion of the adjustedbrine product to a wellsite.

A twelfth aspect, which is the process of the eleventh aspect furthercomprising pumping the adjusted brine product into a wellbore located atthe wellsite.

A thirteenth aspect, which is the process of any one of the eleventh orthe twelfth aspect wherein the adjusted brine product pumped into thewellbore is substantially free of suspended solid particles.

A fourteenth aspect, which is the process of the thirteenth aspectwherein the adjusted brine product is pumped into the wellbore as acompletion or workover fluid effective to avoid particulate plugging ordamage to the formation, inhibit undesirable formation reactions such asclay swelling, control wellbore pressure, or combinations thereof.

A fifteenth aspect, which is the process of any one of the first to thefourteenth aspects further comprising mixing the adjusted brine productwith one or more additives to yield a wellbore servicing fluid.

A sixteenth aspect, which is the process of the fifteenth aspect furthercomprising pumping the wellbore servicing fluid into a wellbore locatedat the wellsite.

A seventeenth aspect, which is the process of the sixteen aspect whereinthe wellbore servicing fluid is a drilling fluid or fracturing fluid.

An eighteenth aspect, which is the process of any one of the first tothe seventeenth aspects further comprising recovering crystalline saltformed by the evaporator.

A nineteenth aspect, which is a process comprising:

removing hydrocarbons, solids, or both from production saltwater toyield clarified saltwater comprising water and dissolved salt;

spraying a portion of the clarified saltwater through an evaporator toevaporate a portion of the water;

collecting unevaporated saltwater which is an unevaporated portion ofthe saltwater that remains after being sprayed through the evaporator;and

adding a portion of the clarified saltwater to a portion of theunevaporated saltwater to adjust a salinity of the unevaporatedsaltwater and yield an adjusted brine product.

A twentieth aspect, which is the process of the nineteenth aspect,wherein the clarified saltwater has a salinity that is less than thesalinity of the unevaporated saltwater.

A twenty-first aspect, which is the process of any one of the nineteenthor the twentieth aspect further comprising mixing a gel system and aproppant material with a portion of the adjusted brine product to yielda fracturing fluid.

A twenty-second aspect, which is the process of the twenty-first aspectwherein the adjusted brine product has a salinity of from about 1 lb/bblto about 10 lbs/bbl.

A twenty-third aspect, which is the process of any one of the nineteenthor the twentieth aspect further comprising mixing clay with a portion ofthe adjusted brine product to yield a drilling fluid.

A twenty-fourth aspect, which is the process of the twenty-third aspectwherein the adjusted brine product has a salinity of from about 10lbs/bbl to about 18 lbs/bbl.

A twenty-fifth aspect, which is a process comprising:

spraying production saltwater comprising water and dissolved saltthrough an evaporator to evaporate a portion of the water and yieldevaporated water;

condensing a portion of the evaporated water to yield condensed water;

collecting unevaporated saltwater which is an unevaporated portion ofthe saltwater that remains after being sprayed through the evaporator;and

adding a portion of the condensed water to a portion of the unevaporatedsaltwater to adjust a salinity of the unevaporated saltwater and yieldan adjusted brine product.

A twenty-sixth aspect, which is a process comprising:

spraying production saltwater comprising water and dissolved saltthrough an evaporator to evaporate a portion of the water;

collecting unevaporated saltwater which is an unevaporated portion ofthe saltwater that remains after being sprayed through the evaporator;

receiving a density specification for an adjusted brine product suitablefor use in a wellbore servicing operation; and

adjusting a density of at least a portion of the unevaporated saltwaterto yield the adjusted brine product meeting the density specification.

A twenty-seventh aspect, which is the process of the twenty-sixth aspectwherein the density specification is from about 8.4 lbm/gal (ppg) toabout 20 lbm/gal.

A twenty-eighth aspect, which is the process of any one of thetwenty-sixth or the twenty-seventh aspect further comprising, prior tothe adjusting, testing a density of the unevaporated saltwater andcomparing the density of the unevaporated saltwater to the densityspecification to determine whether the density of the unevaporated watershould be adjusted upwardly or downwardly.

A twenty-ninth aspect, which is a system comprising:

(a) an evaporator, wherein the evaporator receives a saltwater feedstream and emits a spray of saltwater into the air where a portion ofthe saltwater is evaporated and a portion of the saltwater remainsunevaporated and falls from the air onto a surface adjacent theevaporator;

(b) a collector for collecting the unevaporated saltwater that fallsonto the surface;

(c) an unevaporated saltwater storage vessel, wherein the unevaporatedsaltwater storage vessel is in fluid communication with the collectorand receives unevaporated saltwater collected by the collector;

(d) a mix vessel, wherein the mix vessel is in fluid communication withand receives (1) unevaporated saltwater from the storage vessel whereinthe unevaporated saltwater has a baseline salinity, and (2) at least oneadditional feed stream selected from (i) a crystalline salt feed streamfrom a crystalline salt source, (ii) a salt solution feed stream from asalt solution source, or (iii) a fresh water feed stream from a freshwater source, and

wherein an adjusted brine product is formed in the mixer upon receipt ofunevaporated saltwater and at least one of the additional feed streams(i)-(iii), wherein the adjusted brine product has a salinity that isdifferent from the baseline salinity; and

(e) an adjusted brine product storage vessel in fluid communication withthe mix vessel and receiving the adjusted brine product from the mixvessel.

A thirtieth aspect, which is the system of the twenty-ninth aspectwherein the at least one additional feed stream is selected from (i),(ii), (iii), or (iv) a wellbore servicing fluid component or additivefeed stream;

wherein a wellbore servicing fluid product is formed in the mixer uponreceipt of the unevaporated saltwater, the wellbore servicing fluidcomponent or additive, and at least one of the additional feed streams(i)-(iii); and further comprising:

(f) a wellbore servicing fluid product storage vessel in fluidcommunication with the mix vessel and receiving the wellbore servicingfluid product from the mix vessel.

A thirty-first aspect, which is the system of any one of thetwenty-ninth or the thirtieth aspect wherein the collector comprises adrain, a pump, and piping connecting the drain, pump, and storage vesselin fluid communication.

A thirty-second aspect, which is a process comprising:

receiving production saltwater comprising water, salt, and hydrocarbons;

separating substantially all of the hydrocarbons from the productionsaltwater, thereby producing a stream consisting essentially of thewater and the salt and optionally solids;

evaporating at least some of the water in the stream to obtain the saltand yield unevaporated saltwater;

collecting the salt;

collecting at least a portion of the unevaporated saltwater; and

adjusting a salinity of at least a portion of the collected unevaporatedsaltwater to yield an adjusted brine product.

A thirty-third aspect, which is a process comprising:

receiving production saltwater comprising water, salt, and hydrocarbons;

separating substantially all of the hydrocarbons from the productionsaltwater, wherein separating substantially all the hydrocarbons fromthe production saltwater comprises:

passing the production saltwater through a gun barrel separator; and

passing the production saltwater through a weir skimmer;

combining the hydrocarbons from the weir skimmer and the gun barrelseparator in a hydrocarbon storage tank;

evaporating at least some of the water in the production saltwater toobtain the salt and yield unevaporated saltwater;

collecting the salt;

collecting at least a portion of the unevaporated saltwater; and

adjusting a salinity of at least a portion of the collected unevaporatedsaltwater to yield an adjusted brine product.

A thirty-fourth aspect, which is a production saltwater disposal processoccurring in a production saltwater disposal facility, the processcomprising:

receiving, at the production saltwater disposal facility, productionsaltwater produced by a hydrocarbon well directly connected to asubterranean formation, wherein the production saltwater received by theproduction saltwater facility is substantially the same as theproduction saltwater produced by the hydrocarbon well, and wherein theproduction saltwater comprises water, salt, and hydrocarbons;

separating substantially all of the hydrocarbons from the productionsaltwater, thereby producing a stream consisting essentially of thewater and the salt and optionally solids; and

evaporating at least some of the water in the stream to obtain the saltand yield unevaporated saltwater;

collecting at least a portion of the unevaporated saltwater; and

adjusting a salinity of at least a portion of the collected unevaporatedsaltwater to yield an adjusted brine product.

A thirty-fifth aspect, which is the process of any one of thethirty-second to the thirty-fourth aspects further comprising using theadjusted brine product as a wellbore servicing fluid or a component of awellbore servicing fluid.

A thirty-sixth aspect, which is a production saltwater disposal facilitycomprising:

a settling pit configured to separate metals and/or other solids fromsaltwater;

an evaporator in fluid communication with the settling pit andcomprising a nozzle configured to emit a stream of the saltwater along apath in air such that water in the saltwater evaporates;

a collection pit positioned under the path and configured to collect thesalt from the saltwater after the water has evaporated and to collectunevaporated saltwater emitted from the evaporator;

an unevaporated saltwater storage vessel, wherein the unevaporatedsaltwater storage vessel is in fluid communication with the collectionpit and receives unevaporated saltwater collected by the collection pit;

a mix vessel, wherein the mix vessel is in fluid communication with andreceives (1) unevaporated saltwater from the storage vessel wherein theunevaporated saltwater has a baseline salinity, and (2) at least oneadditional feed stream selected from (i) a crystalline salt feed streamfrom a crystalline salt source, (ii) a salt solution feed stream from asalt solution source, or (iii) a fresh water feed stream from a freshwater source, and

wherein an adjusted brine product is formed in the mixer upon receipt ofunevaporated saltwater and at least one of the additional feed streams(i)-(iii), wherein the adjusted brine product has a salinity that isdifferent from the baseline salinity; and

an adjusted brine product storage vessel in fluid communication with themix vessel and receiving the adjusted brine product from the mix vessel.

A thirty-seventh aspect, which is a production saltwater disposalfacility comprising:

a separator configured to receive production saltwater from a pipelineor a vehicle and separate hydrocarbons from the production saltwater,wherein the production saltwater received from the pipeline or vehicleis substantially the same composition as when the production saltwaterwas located in a subterranean formation;

a hydrocarbon storage tank configured to receive hydrocarbons from theseparator;

a settling pit configured to receive the production saltwater from theseparator and separate metals and/or other solids from the saltwater;

an evaporator in fluid communication with the settling pit andcomprising a nozzle configured to emit a stream of the saltwater along apath in air such that water in the saltwater evaporates;

a collection pit positioned under the path and configured to collect thesalt from the saltwater after the water has evaporated and to collectunevaporated saltwater emitted from the evaporator;

a mix vessel, wherein the mix vessel is in fluid communication with andreceives (1) unevaporated saltwater from the storage vessel wherein theunevaporated saltwater has a baseline salinity, and (2) at least oneadditional feed stream selected from (i) a crystalline salt feed streamfrom a crystalline salt source, (ii) a salt solution feed stream from asalt solution source, or (iii) a fresh water feed stream from a freshwater source, and

wherein an adjusted brine product is formed in the mixer upon receipt ofunevaporated saltwater and at least one of the additional feed streams(i)-(iii), wherein the adjusted brine product has a salinity that isdifferent from the baseline salinity; and

an adjusted brine product storage vessel in fluid communication with themix vessel and receiving the adjusted brine product from the mix vessel.

A thirty-eighth aspect, which is the production saltwater disposalfacility of any one of the thirty-sixth or the thirty-seventh aspect,wherein the at least one additional feed stream is selected from (i),(ii), (iii), or (iv) a wellbore servicing fluid component or additivefeed stream;

wherein a wellbore servicing fluid product is formed in the mixer uponreceipt of the unevaporated saltwater, the wellbore servicing fluidcomponent or additive, and at least one of the additional feed streams(i)-(iii); and further comprising:

(f) a wellbore servicing fluid product storage vessel in fluidcommunication with the mix vessel and receiving the wellbore servicingfluid product from the mix vessel.

A thirty-ninth aspect, which is a production saltwater evaporationapparatus, comprising:

an evaporator configured to emit a stream of saltwater along a path inair such that at least some of the water in the saltwater evaporates;

a collection area positioned under the path and configured to collectsalt and any remaining water from the saltwater after the at least somewater has evaporated; and

a mix vessel configured to receive at least a portion of the anyremaining water from the saltwater after the at least some water hasevaporated and adjust the salinity thereof to yield an adjusted brineproduct.

A fortieth aspect, which is a production saltwater evaporationapparatus, comprising:

a solids separator configured to separate metals and/or other solidsfrom production saltwater;

an evaporator configured to emit a stream of saltwater along a path inair such that at least some of the water in the saltwater evaporates anda portion of the saltwater emitted from the evaporator remainsunevaporated;

a collection area positioned under the path and configured to collectsalt and at least a portion of the unevaporated saltwater; and

a mix vessel configured to receive at least a portion of theunevaporated saltwater and adjust the salinity thereof to yield anadjusted brine product.

A forty-first aspect, which is a production saltwater evaporationapparatus, comprising:

a separation and storage area comprising a hydrocarbon separatorconfigured to separate hydrocarbons from production saltwater and aniodine separation unit configured to remove iodine from the productionsaltwater and produce saltwater;

an evaporator configured to emit a stream of the saltwater along a pathin air such that at least some of the water in the saltwater evaporatesand a portion of the saltwater emitted from the evaporator remainsunevaporated;

a collection area positioned under the path and configured to collectsalt and at least a portion of the unevaporated saltwater; and

a mix vessel configured to receive at least a portion of theunevaporated saltwater and adjust the salinity thereof to yield anadjusted brine product.

A forty-second aspect, which is a production saltwater evaporationapparatus, comprising:

an iodine separation unit configured to remove iodine from theproduction saltwater;

a saltwater clarifying unit configured to separate metals fromproduction saltwater and produce saltwater;

an evaporator configured to emit a stream of the saltwater into the openatmosphere along a path in air such that at least some of the water inthe saltwater evaporates and a portion of the saltwater emitted from theevaporator remains unevaporated, wherein the evaporator is operated onlywhen weather conditions are favorable for evaporation of the water;

a collection area positioned under the path and configured to collectsalt and at least a portion of the unevaporated saltwater; and

a mix vessel configured to receive at least a portion of theunevaporated saltwater and adjust the salinity thereof to yield anadjusted brine product.

A forty-third aspect, which is a production saltwater evaporationapparatus, comprising:

an iodine separation unit configured to remove iodine from theproduction saltwater and produce saltwater;

an evaporator configured to emit a stream of the saltwater along a pathin air such that at least some of the water in the saltwater evaporatesand a portion of the saltwater emitted from the evaporator remainsunevaporated, wherein the production saltwater is substantially the samecomposition as when the production saltwater was located in asubterranean formation;

a collection area positioned under the path and configured to collectsalt and at least a portion of the unevaporated saltwater; and

a mix vessel configured to receive at least a portion of theunevaporated saltwater and adjust the salinity thereof to yield anadjusted brine product.

A forty-fourth aspect, which is the production saltwater evaporationapparatus of any one of the thirty-ninth to the forty-third aspectsfurther comprising a wellbore servicing fluid product storage vessel influid communication with the mix vessel and receiving a wellboreservicing fluid product from the mix vessel.

At least one embodiment is disclosed and variations, combinations,and/or modifications of the embodiment(s) and/or features of theembodiment(s) made by a person having ordinary skill in the art arewithin the scope of the disclosure. Alternative embodiments that resultfrom combining, integrating, and/or omitting features of theembodiment(s) are also within the scope of the disclosure. Wherenumerical ranges or limitations are expressly stated, such expressranges or limitations should be understood to include iterative rangesor limitations of like magnitude falling within the expressly statedranges or limitations (e.g., from about 1 to about 10 includes, 2, 3, 4,etc.; greater than 0.10 includes 0.11, 0.12, 0.13, etc.). For example,whenever a numerical range with a lower limit, R_(l), and an upperlimit, R_(u), is disclosed, any number falling within the range isspecifically disclosed. In particular, the following numbers within therange are specifically disclosed: R=R_(l)+k*(R_(u)−R_(l)), wherein k isa variable ranging from 1 percent to 100 percent with a 1 percentincrement, i.e., k is 1 percent, 2 percent, 3 percent, 4 percent, 5percent, . . . , 50 percent, 51 percent, 52 percent, . . . , 95 percent,96 percent, 97 percent, 98 percent, 99 percent, or 100 percent.Moreover, any numerical range defined by two R numbers as defined in theabove is also specifically disclosed. Unless otherwise stated, the term“about” means±10% of the subsequent number. Use of the term “optionally”with respect to any element of a claim means that the element isrequired, or alternatively, the element is not required, bothalternatives being within the scope of the claim. Use of broader termssuch as comprises, includes, and having, should be understood to providesupport for narrower terms such as consisting of, consisting essentiallyof, and comprised substantially of. Accordingly, the scope of protectionis not limited by the description set out above but is defined by theclaims that follow, that scope including all equivalents of the subjectmatter of the claims. Each and every claim is incorporated as furtherdisclosure into the specification and the claims are embodiment(s) ofthe present disclosure. The discussion of a reference in the disclosureis not an admission that it is prior art, especially any reference thathas a publication date after the priority date of this application. Thedisclosure of all patents, patent applications, and publications citedin the disclosure are hereby incorporated by reference, to the extentthat they provide exemplary, procedural, or other details supplementaryto the disclosure.

While several embodiments have been provided in the present disclosure,it should be understood that the disclosed systems and methods might beembodied in many other specific forms without departing from the spiritor scope of the present disclosure. The present examples are to beconsidered as illustrative and not restrictive, and the intention is notto be limited to the details given herein. For example, the variouselements or components may be combined or integrated in another systemor certain features may be omitted, or not implemented.

In addition, techniques, systems, subsystems, and methods described andillustrated in the various embodiments as discrete or separate may becombined or integrated with other systems, modules, techniques, ormethods without departing from the scope of the present disclosure.Other items shown or discussed as coupled or directly coupled orcommunicating with each other may be indirectly coupled or communicatingthrough some interface, device, or intermediate component whetherelectrically, mechanically, or otherwise. Other examples of changes,substitutions, and alterations are ascertainable by one skilled in theart and could be made without departing from the spirit and scopedisclosed herein.

What is claimed is:
 1. A process comprising: spraying productionsaltwater comprising water and dissolved salt through an evaporator toevaporate a portion of the water; collecting unevaporated saltwaterwhich is an unevaporated portion of the production saltwater thatremains after being sprayed through the evaporator; and adjusting asalinity of at least a portion of the unevaporated saltwater to yield anadjusted brine product.
 2. The process of claim 1, wherein adjusting thesalinity of at least the portion of the unevaporated saltwater comprisesincreasing the salinity of at least the portion of the unevaporatedsaltwater by addition of salt to the unevaporated saltwater.
 3. Theprocess of claim 1, wherein adjusting the salinity of at least theportion of the unevaporated saltwater comprises increasing the salinityof at least the portion of the unevaporated saltwater by addition of aconcentrated brine having a salinity that is greater than the salinityof the unevaporated saltwater.
 4. The process of claim 1, whereinadjusting the salinity of at least the portion of the unevaporatedsaltwater comprising decreasing the salinity of at least the portion ofthe unevaporated saltwater by addition of fresh water to theunevaporated saltwater.
 5. The process of claim 1, wherein adjusting thesalinity of at least the portion of the unevaporated saltwater comprisesdecreasing the salinity of at least the portion of the unevaporatedsaltwater by addition of a diluted brine having a salinity that is lessthan the salinity of the unevaporated saltwater.
 6. The process of claim1, wherein the adjusted brine product has a salinity of from about 1pound per barrel (lb/bbl) to about 10 lbs/bbl.
 7. The process of claim6, further comprising mixing a gel system and a proppant material withthe adjusted brine product to yield a fracturing fluid.
 8. The processof claim 7, wherein the gel system comprises guar gum or theirderivatives, a cross-linker, a breaker, a surfactant, or combinationsthereof.
 9. The process of claim 1, wherein the adjusted brine producthas a salinity of from about 10 pounds per barrel (lbs/bbl) to about 18lbs/bbl.
 10. The process of claim 9, further comprising mixing clay withthe adjusted brine product to yield a drilling fluid.
 11. The process ofclaim 1, further comprising transporting a portion of the adjusted brineproduct to a wellsite.
 12. The process of claim 11, further comprisingpumping the adjusted brine product into a wellbore located at thewellsite.
 13. The process of claim 12, wherein the adjusted brineproduct pumped into the wellbore is substantially free of suspendedsolid particles.
 14. The process of claim 13, wherein the adjusted brineproduct is pumped into the wellbore as a completion or workover fluideffective to avoid particulate plugging or damage to a formation,inhibit undesirable formation reactions, control wellbore pressure, orcombinations thereof.
 15. The process of claim 11, further comprisingmixing the adjusted brine product with one or more additives to yield awellbore servicing fluid.
 16. The process of claim 15, furthercomprising pumping the wellbore servicing fluid into a wellbore locatedat the wellsite.
 17. The process of claim 16, wherein the wellboreservicing fluid is a drilling fluid or fracturing fluid.
 18. The processof claim 1, further comprising recovering crystalline salt formed by theevaporator.
 19. A process comprising: removing hydrocarbons, solids, orboth from production saltwater to yield clarified saltwater comprisingwater and dissolved salt; spraying a portion of the clarified saltwaterthrough an evaporator to evaporate a portion of the water; collectingunevaporated saltwater which is an unevaporated portion of the clarifiedsaltwater that remains after being sprayed through the evaporator; andadding a portion of the clarified saltwater to a portion of theunevaporated saltwater to adjust a salinity of the unevaporatedsaltwater and yield an adjusted brine product.
 20. A process comprising:spraying production saltwater comprising water and dissolved saltthrough an evaporator to evaporate a portion of the water and yieldevaporated water; condensing a portion of the evaporated water to yieldcondensed water; collecting unevaporated saltwater which is anunevaporated portion of the production saltwater that remains afterbeing sprayed through the evaporator; and adding a portion of thecondensed water to a portion of the unevaporated saltwater to adjust asalinity of the unevaporated saltwater and yield an adjusted brineproduct.
 21. A process comprising: spraying production saltwatercomprising water and dissolved salt through an evaporator to evaporate aportion of the water; collecting unevaporated saltwater which is anunevaporated portion of the production saltwater that remains afterbeing sprayed through the evaporator; receiving a density specificationfor an adjusted brine product suitable for use in a wellbore servicingoperation; and adjusting a density of at least a portion of theunevaporated saltwater to yield the adjusted brine product meeting thedensity specification.